Harry Potter And The Shadow Of Darkness
by chr
Summary: Voldemort is getting stronger... Harry needs more help to stay alive. He survives many tries of the Death Eaters to destroy him, and then he, with the help of Cho, find some things... NOBODY's READING? Come on I know youll love it :)
1. The Odd Book

HARRY POTTER AND THE SHADOW OF DARKNESS  
  
-1. The Odd Book  
  
-2. The Vasile Feint  
  
-3. Birthday  
  
-4. Safety  
  
-5. Invisible Fear  
  
-6. Giant Problems  
  
-7. Quidditch  
  
-8. Missing  
  
-9. Who?  
  
-10. Weakness  
  
-11. Dark Thoughts  
  
-12. Find The Shadow  
  
-13. The Silent Attack  
  
-14. Terror  
  
-15. Midnight Hunt  
  
-16. When The Shadow Finds You  
  
-17. The Voice Of The Shadow  
  
-18. The Dark Book Of Dark Arts  
  
These are to come later:  
  
-19. Servus  
  
-20. The Last Hunt  
  
-21. Survive  
  
-22. The Worst Nightmare  
  
-23. Recovery  
  
-24. Untitled  
  
Chapter 1: The Odd Book  
  
It was Harry's first day back at the Dursleys after his fourth year. He was at Privet Drive number Four for only three hours, but he already started to miss everything that made him happy while at Hogwarts, which was his true house. He imagined that he still was with his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, talking to them... but he had to spend the entire summer alone at the Dursleys, with no magic. He had no idea what to do for two entire, long, months...  
  
The Dursleys weren't talking to him at all. Maybe they were scared that Harry's godfather, who they still thought that was a convincted murderer, may come and kill them if they mistreat Harry, so they didn't want anything to do with Harry. He only met them during meals, where they gave him as little food as they were giving Dudley(who was still on a diet after not being able to fit into the school desks).  
  
His life was as it had always been with those magic-hating Muggles. He was bored to death in his first day, he wondered if he would resist two months... and if he did, how.  
  
He started doing his homework at History of Magic(he dedided to start with the most boring ones first). That was a lot better than waiting two months for time to pass. He started writing about "The begining of the Dark Arts", one of the only interresting subjects they had ever done with Professor Binns, who was the only ghost professor at Hogwarts. Harry wrote about Grindelwald, a dark wizard Dumbledore had stopped himself in 1945. And after he finished the essay, the piece of parchment he wa writing on had a very long text wrote on it, a few words about every known and powerful Dark Wizard of all times. Surprised, Harry saw that none other was as powerful as Lord Voldemort, who was lurking free at the time Harry was writing about him, doing as many murders as possible.  
  
He finished the History of Magic Homework, and then stopped because he thought that in that manner, he would finish the homework in his first few days back.  
  
The next day, bored as he was, he knew exactly what to do. He took a piece of parchment and his quill, and then he started writing a letter to Ron asking for advice... He said that he would ask Hermione later about it, when Hedwig returned with Ron's reply.  
  
Dear Ron,  
  
Life at the Dursleys is very boring. Is there any possibility that I may come to the Burrow? Please tell me anything I can do to stop this way of living, or I will die of boreness.  
  
Bored, Harry  
  
He looked at the last line on his letter and smiled a bit. It was the first time he smiled since he reached Privet Drive. That wasn't quite a letter ending, but he wanted to write it. Then, Hedwig automatically flew to him.  
  
"Bring this to Ron. And just hope that I will survive this until you return," he added before tying the letter to her foot, trying to think that he would be able to find anything to do. He opened the window and watched Hedwig as she disappeared in the white clouds, wishing he could do it as well.  
  
He turned back to his bed, lying uncomfortably and thinking about the previous year's events. Only a week ago, Lord Voldemort had risen again, and he had used Harry's blood to come back. Harry wondered if he started terrorizing people already, because he couldn't know. At the Dursleys, he didn't have any connections with the wizarding world...  
  
Then, he sat on his bed and continued thinking about the recent events... and he remembered some even more sad ones. Cedric Diggory died because of him; it was him, Harry, the one who suggested that both of them should take the Cup... He felt guilty for his death, and thought he shouldn't have won the Triwizard Cup. Because of that, he gave Fred and George his winnings for the cup(one thousand galleons) threatening to curse them if they didn't accept. He wondered if they were making good use of the money.  
  
Thinking of Cedric reminded Harry of Cho, who was the only girl he had ever liked. She was Cedric's grilfriend... that was what made Harry think that 'Cedric was in fact a useless pretty boy who didn't have enough brains to fill an eggcup.'  
  
The moment Cho refused him when he asked her to go to the ball with him was quite painful to remember... but still, that was the sad reality. Why was everything bad for Harry? Why?  
  
Hedwig's journey took a lot of time. Harry wondered if something happened to her, because he couldn't remember sending her with a letter to Ron and not come back in a few hours. The only times she disappeared for a very long time was when he sent letters to Sirius last year, and that had a good reason because from Sirius's words he was living very distant from Hogwarts. Now, after some time, she was back, and Harry was relieved to see that nothing bad happened. He read Ron's letter:  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
Dad said that the new Quidditch World Cup is about to start. It is not the final as it was last year, but it should be cool anyway. This is the first game of the Cup. I don't know when and there this game will be, but I am sure you can come with us to see it. Until then, I have no idea on what to tell you... ask Hermione.  
  
See you soon - Ron  
  
Reading that, he decided to take Ron's advice and send a letter, exactly as he sent to Ron, to Hermione. But this time he added a question, he asked if she could send some Daily Prophets. He also asked if she could send him something to eat, because the Dursleys wren't giving him too much food. And he ended the letter with 'I started living off memories.'  
  
Harry found Hermione's reply only the next day, being woken up again by Hedwig clicking her beak on the closed window. She seemed quite tired of the journey, and Harry realized why when he saw the package she was carrying.  
  
Harry let her in the room, and the first thing he saw was that Hermione sent him a big book("Typical", Harry said in his mind). He didn't look at it too much and went forward to reading the letter.  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
I have nothing to do to help you with the boring life, except to give you something to do. Take that book, it's quite interresting and I am sure that you will find useful information in it. I read parts of it and thought you would be interrested in reading more things about the Dark Arts -- especially the advanced ones you will have to deal with if You-Know-Who tries to do something to hurt you.  
  
Speaking of food, I had very little things to give you. But I think you already saw them.  
  
Love - Hermione  
  
Harry looked to see what she gave him to eat, and noticed some very good-looking cookies packed together. As for the book, he only looked at its title("The Dark Book of Dark Arts") and because that name wasn't very attractive, he just placed it under the bed and forgot about it, eating a few cookies. Hermione didn't send him any newspapers so he still had no idea of what was happening in the magical world he belonged to.  
  
Then, he went back to his daily way of spending time: recalling memories... He told himself to only bring back only good things, and to leave the bad ones for another time. But he couldn't -- the sense of guilt for Cedric's death came immediately through him, and it was quite a consuming feeling, especially because Cho had to be hurt because of that -- and it was all Harry's fault!  
  
He would have given anything to stop him die... because the thought was going to haunt him forever. And even worse, he wondered what Cho would think of him now after Cedric died. His insides squirmed of the thought, and then he closed his eyes trying to sleep again - but how could he; it was only morning.  
  
Life paseed in the same way as it always did while at the Dursleys: Wake up, go down to eat, go back to your room and start doing some homework, eat again, spend the rest of the day by recalling memories, then sleep again. Everything was so boring - he wondered how he could resist the first week back in that way. And he still had eight more weeks to spend...  
  
One morning, he heard a loud bang coming from downstairs. Harry knew it was caused by someone closing a door, but that was something what very rarely happened on Prover Drive, nuber four.  
  
Only a moment passed until someone started screaming, and he recognized the loud voice, it had to be Dudley. After that, Harry could hear another door opening, and then someone closed it with another bang. Courious, Harry opened his door and got out of the room. He started walking slowly to the staircase, to see what happepned to Dudley.  
  
And Harry saw him, running in circles in the living room, having a horrified look on his face. Uncle Vernon was looking astounded at Dudley, and his face went angrier and angrier with each passing second. "DUDLEY!" he shouted, but Dudley did nothing except continuing screaming and running in the room. "ENOUGH!"  
  
It was a very funny scene, maybe there never was any funnier scene in that house: Dudley was running in circles, still screaming so loud that Harry thought his ears would blow up, and Uncle Vernon was running at his fat back, trying to catch him -- but with no effect. Harry almost burst out laughing, but then Vernon noticed him spying.  
  
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SON, BOY?" he yelled as loud as Dudley did. Harry knew from that moment that he was going to be in trouble, even if he had no idea what happened to Dudley. "WHAT?"  
  
Harry answered, "I didn't do anything -"  
  
"HOW COMES?" asked Vernon, even angrier. "BOY, YOU DO NOT LIE TO ME! WHAT DID YOU DO TO DUDLEY? TELL ME OR YOU WILL BE OUT OF THE HOU --" Vernon stopped like thunnderstruck. His face went from its angry expression to one of deepest confusion, and a little bit of terror, everything in less than a second.  
  
Harry understood that when he remembered that Sirius Black was still free, and Vernon's fear stopped him from everything bad he could do to Harry. That's good, Harry thought, waiting to hear what Vernon said next. But unfortunately --  
  
"TELL ME NOW!" he ordered.  
  
"I didn't do anything! Ask him!" Harry pointed to Dudley, who still didn't stop.  
  
Vernon seemed to listen to what Harry said, and went straight to Dudley. "DUDLEY! STOP THIS OR YOU WON'T EAT ANYTHING FOR A MONTH!" Harry knew Vernon would never do something like that, but he saw that at least it had some effect, Dudley stopped suddenly and looked at his uncle, who was very angry.  
  
Vernon shouted at Dudley so loud that Harry couldn't understand what he said, he had to press his hands to his ears. Harry thought Dudley was in serious trouble - just as he was. He thought Uncle Vernon would never stop that shouting...  
  
But suddenly he stopped everything, and Dudley told him something that Harry couldn't understand. Uncle Vernon entered Dudley's room, and after a few seconds, he came back out holding something very familiar by a leg in his big fists.  
  
It was Errol, the old Weasley family owl. He had missed the target and went straight to Dudley's room. Judging Dudley's behavior towards everything from the wizarding world, it was nothing unusual that he started acting like that. The only one who acted strangely was, Harry thought, Uncle Vernon, because he couldn't remember seeing him shouting like that at his stupid fat son.  
  
Uncle Vernon gave a stare at Dudley, and then he hasted to Harry's position. They looked at each other straight in their eyes, and then Vernon asked, "What is this then?" He pointed to Errol, and after that, he throwed the owl down to the ground, making a loud noise.  
  
"I shall not approve this! If there will be ONE - MORE - THING - LIKE - THIS - you will see trouble as you had never been before. Did I make myself clear, BOY?"  
  
Harry nodded. Uncle Vernon left, angry, while Harry went back to his room. He didn't forget to take Errol with him. Unfortunately, looking closer, he saw that Errol was dead. Ron's letter could be seen tied at his leg, and Harry took it slowly. He wondered what to tell Ron - he now had to give them the money to buy another owl. Not that it cost him much -- comparing to the money he had in his vault. But he felt sorry...  
  
The Weasleys needed another owl anyway. Errol wasn't up to journeys lately, not even the shorter ones. And bringing letters to the wrong target could be devastating... What if Voldemort caught an important letter?  
  
'How stupid I am,' Harry said to himself, 'if there is an important letter they wouldn't send it with Errol.'  
  
Ron's letter was still tied to Errol's leg. Harry untied it. He read:  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
The game is in July 26th, and it is, surprisingly, at Hogwarts! We will come to take you at four PM, the game will begin at seven. I hope you will survive until that day.  
  
Can't wait - Ron  
  
Harry cheered up when he read the letter - it were two more weeks until the date Ron told him, but it was better than not leaving the Dursleys at all...  
  
Then he took a piece of parchment. He wrote 'Dear Ron' but then, he stopped thinking how to start... because he didn't want it to sound too bad. It was a bad thing anyway, he thought, and wrote faster than his mind told him:  
  
'I am sorry to say that Errol is... dead. He entered Dudley's room instead of mine, and Dudley was very alarmed of it. Scared as he is of anything which had to do with the magical world, he started running in circles and screaming louder than you can even imagine. My uncle wasn't pleased with it, and, angry as he was, he threw Errol to the floor so hard that when I took him, he was dead. I should buy you another owl in Diagon alley.'  
  
He paused the next moments.  
  
'I am very anxious to going to the Quidditch Cup.  
  
See you then, Harry.'  
  
That was the ending of his letter. He knew nothing more to write - the circumstances were quite bad and his mind was flying to other things, like what he could do because of Errol's death.  
  
He called Hedwig, who, even though didn't much like Errol, looked quite sad after his death, and tied the letter to her leg. "Bring this to Ron..." he said in a dully voice. He felt sorry that he didn't have some galleons at him, because he wanted to include with the letter some money so they could get another owl. The Weasleys were a very poor family, indeed.  
  
Then he went back to his bed, thinking of what Lord Voldemort was doing in the present. He felt that something was going to happen soon... it was a strange feeling he had last days, telling Harry that Voldemort would find him...  
  
The next days passed as slow as usual. Ron sent back a letter and told Harry that he doesn't need to buy them another owl, because they were planning to get another owl even if nothing happened to Errol. "But I still have to give you another one because it was my fault," he said to himself while reading.  
  
There were two more days until July 26th, and Harry thought it was better to ask the Dursleys if he could go to the Quidditch Game. Not that he wouldn't go anyway, but he thought it was better to tell them where he would be for a while before the day came -- maybe the only effect it had was to make them happier and anxious to leave... To tell them where he would be gone maybe for three hours or maybe for a few days, he didn't know how long the match could be. Some said that they could take several days.  
  
It was a sunny morning. He had to go down for breakfast, anyway, so he decided he would ask them there. He dressed in the huge clothes that were once Dudley's, and went downstairs. His stomach was asking for food, and it didn't seem to give up until Harry ate something(he decided to keep some of the food Hermione gave him for another time, and it was only a very small amount of food left.  
  
His aunt and uncle acted as usual. They looked like as didn't notice him enter, except for putting the plate with a very small amount of soup on the table. Harry took a spoon and started eating... he was thinking of what to tell them, of how to start.  
  
He finished it in very few minutes even though he ate quite slowly. He didn't feel like telling the Dursleys anything, he thought they would ignore him. But he had to ask them... What was the loss? They couldn't do anything bad to him, could they? Not when they were scared of Sirius anyway. Then Harry remembered that he hadn't heard from Sirius for a long time.  
  
"Uncle Vernon," he started, "The day after tomorrow, I will go to the Quidditch World Cup -- the same wi --" he stopped because he shouldn't say the 'wizard' word in that house, --"the same sport I went to watch last year." The entire Dursley family gave him a ferocious stare, then Petunia asked,  
  
"More of those stupid odd stuff?"  
  
Harry didn't answer, he would have never said that Quidditch was stupid. Then, the words formed without thinking, "Not stupid. Just Quidditch." Where did those words come from?  
  
Harry saw Petunia's face darkening, and after that, Uncle Vernon got angrier. "We shall not be spoken like that! I told you this once before!"  
  
But, exactly as he did last year, Harry didn't accept what Vernon said. He remembered how good things went last year, when he had almost almost overtaken the Dursleys. He tried to find a way to do it again, last time he talked about Sirius, and he knew they were very terrified that he would turn up and kill them with only one curse.  
  
Harry knew that wasn't going to happen, but the Dursleys were that stupid, that they believed everything, and Harry had to make good use of that. This time he still had nothing to say yet, he still had to wait until they answered to his request to go to the Quidditch. Then, he could decide on what to tell them next.  
  
"You can go then," Vernon told him in a i-know-whats-the-alternative way. "But how will you get there?"  
  
Harry hadn't thought of that. He thought the Weasleys were coming to take him again. The only thing he wanted, was them to leave the house intact - last year they made quite a mess coming by Floo Powder. Not to forget that Fred and George gave Dudley(they only "dropped" it on the ground, they knew that Dudley would take it) a ton-tongue toffee that enlarged his tongue, done with a good engorgement charm.  
  
"I suspect they will do another stupid thing!" said Uncle Vernon angrily. "If the last year's events are going to happen again, I..."  
  
But then he paused, it looked like words have left him. Harry almost asked, 'You what?' but he knew better than to do it. Everyone was goggling at Vernon, hoping that he would continue his sentence sooner - but it seemed that that wouldn't happen. Then, Vernon pointed his finger at the staircase and looked straight at Harry, who got the message. He sat up and walked to the staircase, glad that he wasn't in any trouble with his uncle and aunt.  
  
That day passed as slow as any day when Harry was waiting for something to happen. He only had two more days until he would go and see the Quidditch Cup! 


	2. The Vasile Feint

Chapter 2: The Vasile Feint  
  
Finally, the day to go to the Quidditch Match came, even slower than the previous times. Harry was very glad that the day came at last -- he was tired of waiting, after doing that for two weeks. The previous day he had thought of his life at Hogwarts for more than five hours, and it came to great relief to see that it was July, 26th. Only five days to his birthday...  
  
...and five hours until the Weasleys were to collect him. Harry saw that it was eleven o'clock already("Oy! I missed breakfast!").  
  
He had been looking forward to this day since he recieved Ron's first letter telling about the new Quidditch World Cup. That was the chance of leaving the Duesleys -- didn't matter for how long -- And now that only five hours separated him from seeing Hogwarts again, seconds passed like minutes - he was wondering who he was going to the castle.  
  
And finally, Harry heard a knock on his door. He opened it and saw Vernon, who called him, "Come, boy! Someone's here to take you!"  
  
Harry just relieved to see that Ron was at the door and didn't come in a 'destructive' way. Vernon and Petunia went to the kitchens so they wouldn't have anything to do with the Weasleys, and Harry went outside.  
  
The only one who was there was Ron, no Mr. Weasley; no Mrs. Weasley, no one. He was grinning to his ears, and took a plug from his pocket. Harry knew that Mr. Weasley had enough of those, he was collecting Muggle objects -- and plugs were his favourite.  
  
"This is a Portkey. It is supposed to bring us to the Burrow, and from there we have another portkey to bring us to Hogwarts."  
  
"Your father had done that only for us?" asked Harry surprised. He had thought Portkeys were controlled by the Ministry... but then he remembered how law-abiding Mr. Weasley was. He had once bewitched a car to fly, and he did it in secret because it was against the law. Everyone thought he was just inspecting it, to see how it was created by Muggles, but he wasn't exactly doing that. He had bewitched each part of it and then re-assembled it. Fred, George and Ron came to collect him in his second year with that car.  
"I wonder why the game is at Hogwarts," said Ron looking away from the Portkey.  
  
"No idea," said Harry staring at a plane in the sky. At first he thought it was a broomstick.  
  
"Go, Harry, and take what you need for the Quidditch Match!"  
  
"I won't need anything else than a visit to Gringotts..." he said, and saw Ron turning a little sadder. Harry knew that the thing eating him was being poor. Harry felt guilty for saying that, and remembering Ron that he was poor, while Harry had a considerable amount of gold in his vault.  
  
"Well, let's go to the Burrow," said Ron, "Come on, touch the plug."  
  
Harry did so, and he felt again the feeling of bring transported by a portkey. He had a whirling feeling, though it wasn't as bad as the one he had while travelling via floo Powder.  
  
And then, he saw all the Weasleys in front of him. Everyone was home, prepared to leave for the Quidditch Cup; even Bill and Charlie. They were looking at Harry before saying, "Heya Harry."  
  
"Hello," Harry answered, and then Mrs. Weasley walked to him. "Dears, we will leave very soon... so get ready everyone. So how are things, Harry dear?"  
  
"As usual," he said, and then the sense of guilt for Errol's death came to him. "Oh,, take these... I owe you," he said, searching his pockets for some Galleons.  
  
"Don't, Harry," she said, not even thinking about taking money from Harry. And he knew that Mrs. Weasley wasn't exactly like Fred and George, so he couldn't threaten her that he would curse her if she wouldn't accept the money.  
  
"I have to..."  
  
"No, Harry! It's our fault, we should have bought another owl before..."  
  
Harry gave up, and after he said hello to everyone, he went to Fred and George's room and asked them what they were doing with the money he gave them.  
  
"We've been doing great," Fred assured him, "Thank you."  
  
"We couldn't have made it so far without what you gave us," George continued, "-- in less than a month we have succesfully made up lots of new... er - things."  
  
"I still think I didn't deserve the money, so don't thank me.. The money should have been Cedric's."  
  
"Yes, but they aren't!" said George, and Harry knew that George didn't know what he was talking about -- it more looked like he wanted to give the money back, or to make Harry feel better. But, seeing at the mode Harry stared at him, he realized what he had just said, and added, "Thank you anyway."  
  
Then they heard Mr. Weasley calling them all. "EVERYONE IN THE KITCHEN!"  
  
Harry, Fred and George left the room for the kitchens, knowing that Mr. Weasley had already set the Portkey. Mrs. Weasley, Ginny and Percy were already there. Harry saw that Ginny was still avoiding his's eyes. She had a crush on him since she first saw him -- and it still hadn't passed.  
  
"Charlie? Bill? Ron?" asked Mrs. Weasley in a loud voice.  
  
"We're coming, mum!" Ron's voice echoed through the halls. Soon, he was in the room, with the oldest Weasley brothers near him.  
  
While waiting for everyone to get prepared, Hary overheard a talk between Mr. Weasley and Percy, and he found out that there was a complete confusion at the Ministry. Everything was unusual, people disappearing, lots of people were gone and they had no replacements... everything was the worst possible, and Harry imagined that it should have been the same as it was fourteen years ago, before Voldemort's downfall.  
  
Finally, everything was set. It was five o'clock, and they had crowded around the portkey, before touching it. And, the second time that day, he felt the familiar feeling of travelling by a portkey...  
  
They were there. Loads of tents were placed in many different spots on the Hogwarts grounds, and the castle was raising gloriously in a distance as it had always been. Still, he hadn't seen any known persons, and a short time after, Mr. Weasley placed the tent.  
  
As all the wizard tents, it was small when looking from outside, and very big from the inside; containing several quite large rooms for everyone.  
  
Everyone remained inside the tent, but Harry and Ron didn't. They wanted to go for a walk, to see the castle again, and they saw how quiet the castle was when no one was inside it -- except, maybe, professor Dumbledore, Harry thought. People kept coming with portkeys, because they couldn't apparate on Hogwarts Grounds. The castle itself was unusually quiet... he had never seen it in a summer before.  
  
Walking on the grounds, he thought about the nice time he had when he was there - except when Malfoy was annoying him. Hogwarts was his real home, and he wished he could stay there over the summer...  
  
Ron was talking to Harry about the Quidditch game they were to see only one hour later. "I can't wait to see how the players are gonna play this time! It won't be as good as the Final, but it will be exciting..." said Ron for the hundredth time. Harry was starting to not pay attention to Ron's usual words. Even if he was just as interrested and anxious as Ron to see the match, he was getting bored of tlaking about only one thing.  
  
Then he saw, in a distance, none other than Cho -- she was sitting on front of a tent, looking around. Harry's mind was not paying attention to Ron anymore at all -- he looked at her and he wondered why his mind seemed empty for a while.  
  
"Harry?" asked Ron, "Are you alright?" Harry gave a start. He looked at Ron, not knowing what to tell him.  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"Er - Okay," continued Ron before turning silent for the first time since they came up to Hogwarts.  
  
They were walking towards their tent, and just then Harry saw that Cho's tent was quite close to the Weasley's one. Ron entered their tent, and Harry sat on the grass near the exit("I'll come in later," he told Ron). And then, Cho spotted him, and Harry saw that she was not sad anymore as she was at the end of the last term. He could clearly remember how tears were falling on her face... Harry guessed that she was the person who most suffered after his death, except for his parents.  
  
"Hello, Harry!" she said, waving her hand towards him.  
  
"Hi," he continued, wondering what she was thinking about what happened at the end of the Triwizard Tournament.  
  
"So... How are things?" she asked, and Harry noticed that she was smiling.  
  
"How can they be when you're living with a family of Muggles who detest magic?" he answered, thinking about how much he wanted to leave the Dursleys again.  
  
"Oh," she said, "Sorry..."  
  
"Don't be..." said Harry, and then he remained silent. Lots of times in the summer, his mind slipped to Cho, and he was now talking to her... he never thought he would be talking to her that soon.  
  
"I wonder what will happen in this Quidditch Game," she continued seeing that Harry wasn't saying anything. Harry saw one of his fellow Gryffindors, Dean Thomas, with his mother. But he forgot about him quickly and went back to talking with Cho, thing that he considered much more interresting.  
"Dunno," he answered, "But who is playing anyway? I think I am the only one here who doesn't know..."  
  
Cho smiled even more, almost laughing at the thing that Harry didn't know that. Then, she answered, very cheerful, "Norway versus Romania. Everyone knows that Norway will win - I think no one wanted to bet on Romania -- I heard they never actually won a match before. The romanians have a very bad team... I heard that they have some very stupid players right now... They don't even have enough money to get Firebolts."  
  
"Okay," Harry said, and immediately after, he was called by someone. Harry turned back to see who it was, and saw in the first room of the tent that Mr. Weasley was holding a piece of paper.  
  
"Harry!" he said, "It is for you..."  
  
"What is that?" he asked, while he stood up and walked to take the parchment.  
  
"It's a letter from the England's Quidditch team..." he said, looking very couriously at it.  
  
"Well, bye," Harry said to Cho, who replied, "It was nice to meet you, Harry!".  
  
Harry went to Mr. Weasley, who was reading silently the letter. He gave it to Harry. "Read it loud, mind it, Harry?"  
  
"Okay." And then, he proceeded to reading the letter, so Mr. Weasley could hear him.  
Dear Mr. Potter,  
  
I am Jack Niffler, the Captain of the England's National Quidditch Team. I came once to one Quidditch Game in your third year, and I saw your great flying abilities. You would make a very good seeker for the national team. Send me a letter saying if you will accept to play for our team.  
  
Jack Niffler,  
Captain of the English National Quidditch team.  
Both Harry and Mr. Wesaley remained silent. He couldn't believe it - he, Harry Potter, the seeker of England's national team? But he was only fifteen! How was he going to play?  
  
The answer was very clear - 'no'. Harry still had to stay three more years at Hogwarts... It wasn't possible to be able to play at the national team while he was at school, was it?  
  
Yes, it was. He remembered that Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker, was still at the Durmstrang Institute. Harry had met him last year at Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament.  
  
And, the thought came back to his head - was he good enough for the national team? He had never thought of that. He wondered if there was a player as young as him that played at a national team before. He already was the youngest seeker of the century, couldn't he be the youngest wizard to play in a national quidditch team?  
  
Yet, that was the only thing he was very good at... He could consider to be Quidditch player in his future... so he had to decide to accept or to decline what Jack Niffler asked him. He said to himself that he would think of that...  
  
"Cool!" he heard Ron say loud. Harry understood that Mr. Weasley told everyone what the letter said. "Harry! Come in the kitchen!" He had nothing to do except that, so he followed advice and went to the kitchen... perhaps he will decide with the other Weasleys if to accept or not. Then he entered into the kitchen, and the first one he saw was Ron, jumping and --  
  
"Harry!" said Ron again, with a facial expression Harry had never seen before at him. He looked very happy of that - Harry wondered if he ever saw Ron happier than that time. "Is that true?"  
  
Harry took the letter and showed it to Ron. "I can't believe it," said Harry still in a quite low voice. He wasn't as Happy as Ron was. It was a very hard thing to play in the national team...  
  
"Why are you sad?" Ron asked him.  
  
"I'm not sad... but I don't think I can be a good Quidditch Player."  
  
"C'mon, Harry! If the captain of the team said it, then you really must be a good player! And we all have seen you - You would make an excellent seeker -- even if we are talking about the English Team..."  
  
But Harry hadn't cheered up; even with that he didn't consider himself good enough for the national team.  
  
"Time to go, boys," announced Mrs. Weasley. "It's almost seven o'clock! Let's go! But we won't stay after eleven o'clock, because we will need to sleep sometimes."  
Ron then burst out in exasperation, "SLEEP? AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP?"  
  
Everyone went silent. Harry had never seen Ron shout like that at his mother, and he was sure that was a first. Even Mrs. Weasley was confused about that. Harry felt like Ron was going to be in trouble... because he knew how his mother could be when angry - he remembered lsat year when she found out that Fred and George had lots of 'joke shop sweets' hidden in their pockets. Not to forget in his second year when she caught them flying the car...  
  
"Ron, dear," said Mr. Weasley, but then he stopped. Ron had an I-shouldn't-have-done-that look, and Mrs. Weasley seemed to understand him. They all left the tent in silence.  
  
They soon were near the entrance to the Hogwarts Quidditch Field. He saw that it was much larger than before, they casted lots of spells to make it like that - Harry was sure that ten thousand people could fit in there, ten more times than usual.  
  
It was a very large crowd at the front of the doors. "Just wait until they will all enter, we have reserved tickets," added Mrs. Weasley, "I have tickets to the Top Box this year, too... It is good to be a friend with everyone."  
  
When they found their seats, the match was about to begin. Bagman was commentating, as he did last year. He was close to the Weasleys, so they heard him saying "Sonorus!", casting a spell that magnified his voice so that everyone in the stadium could hear him.  
  
"Welcome, to the first match of the Quidditch World Cup! Norway versus Rooomaniaaaa!" he announced. "First person who enters the stadium is our referee, coming all way from Egypt, Hassan Mostafa!" The crowd could see Mostafa flying in the middle of the Stadium. Then, Bagman called the names of the players from both teams. The first ones who entered the stadium were the romanians.  
  
"Petrescu! Moldovan! Dobrean! Moga! Nicolae! Campean! Aaaand Timofte!" the Romanian players entered on the field, a few members of the crowd cheering up. There were many Romanian supporters, but not as many as the Norwegians, whose team came, too, to the field, while Bagman shouted the names, "Jensen, Antonsen, Hansen, Nilsen, Tveit, Simonsen and Knutsen".  
  
Harry could see the scoreboard, still advertising on different things("DREAM TOFFEE - Eat and think about something, and it will happen in a dream the next time you will fall asleep!"). The huge board was magically created when the stadium was enlarged, Harry couldn't remebmer seeing it when they reached Hogwarts earlier on that day.  
  
"Mostafa is riding his new broomstick, the prototype of the RazorBroom! The new broomstick is slightly better than the Firebolt," commentated Bagman, while Harry was trying to have a better look at the referee's broomstick. "Mostafa had let the balls out! The Quaffle is released, and the game begins!"  
  
Harry noticed that it was a very strange Quidditch game, maybe the strangest he had ever seen. It was not looking like pofessional Quidditch as the Ireland vs. Bulgaria game was. The norwegians flew a little at the beginning but stopped noticing that the romanians were like frozen. The players looked like they didn't do any effort to win. The chasers slowly flew chasing the Quaffle, and the Beaters only knocked down Bludgers when they rushed towards them; no effort to save the other team members' skins. But what was happening?  
  
Bagman stopped. "Something wrong?" he asked, the question addressed to the players. But they ignored it...  
  
Then Harry noticed that the norwegian team started a slightly faster game. But the romanians still didn't bother to do anything. The game continued like that, with no scoring. The romanian keeper was the only player on the field who seemed to have any activity(except the norwegians who were still distracted - they were playing bad only because the romanians started like that). He had a little job to do, giving the game a little dynamical aspect. He seemed to be a good keeper, but the other players were too... calm. They flew like they were only enjoying a slow walk with the broomstick... no Quaffle chasing, not at all...  
  
"For God's sake! What is this?" asked Bagman, his voice echoing to every spot of the stadium. "I've never seen anything like this! Both of the teams look... like, er - how to say it - dead. They're doing nothing!"  
  
Then, the norwegian team started playing slightly better, again. Still, the romanian players were just like before: flying with the speed of a snail. It was something really weird.  
  
"The norwegian team plays slightly better... Hansen has the Quaffle. Antonsen, Jensen. The Quaffle is now in Antonsen's hands, he passes to Hansen... The game seems to be more real - but no, the romanians are still like - frozen."  
  
A bludger hit one of the romanian chasers, and he yelled a loud "AH!" but then, he was back to his 'frozen' state. "Wow! What was that? Moldovan was hit straight in the stomach by a bludger, but he is still standing frozen! What is the romanian team -- we should call the mediwizards --"  
  
"NOW!" shouted one of the romanian players. He was the seeker, and the team captain, too. "LET'S DO IT!"  
  
Then, suddenly, Petrescu sped up towards the norwegian chaser who had the quaffle and brutally took it. The norwegian chaser who previously posessed the quaffle was looking confused at Petrescu who was flying with a higher speed than the Razorbroom's. The entire team started to act like a strong hurricane - they were very fast, violent and they seemed to play like berserk - no one could see what they were doing, but it looked like suicide. Everything a person could see was some fast-moving points, and Harry, as much as he bothered to watch the game, didn't manage it. The romanians were even hitting each other -- no wonder why, thinking of their very high speed, it was very hard to be careful. And, they looked like they were glued to the broomsticks. Something very unusual was happening.  
  
At first, they were feozen, and after some time, they started to move like hurricanes. What was up to them, no one could tell.  
  
"Petrescu! Dobrean! Petrescu again - Dobrean, Moldovan... Petrescu -- no, it was Dobrean - damn, this is too fast." The romanians were, compared to the norwegians, like tanks compared to swordsmen. Everyone thought that the norwegians would beat up the romanians with a flattening score, but it was exactly the opposite...  
  
"SCORE FOR ROMANIA!" shouted Bagman, sounding very confused too. "The norwegians are going to lose the match as they nad never done it before -- I think the score is about three hundred to zero, after all these --"  
  
CRASH.  
  
A norwegian player was speeding to the ground, and that loud crashing sound was caused by a collision with one of the romanians. He reached the ground and there was another crash. "TIME-OUT!" shouted Bagman after Mostafa whistled. "Hansen is down, he fell down from more than sixty feet -"  
  
A pack of mediwizards sped up to the spot where the norwegian chaser fell. The rest of the norwegian team crowded around Hansen, too. No one from the stands could see anything that was happening down there.  
  
Meanwhile, the romanian team went to the middle of the field. They were talking about something - surely plans for the next part of the match. All of them were very pleased by what happened. There was something up to them, something dirty, Harry thought.  
  
Five minutes passed from the accident, and a mediwizard got out of the crowded place around the fallen player. He had a tragic look on his face - and announced, "I think Hansen is..."  
  
Harry immediately knew what the mediwizard meant. He didn't look like he liked saying that word. "Dead?" asked Knutsen.  
  
"I am very sorry, but, yes - he is dead."  
  
"HANSEN IS DEAD!" roared Bagman in desperation. "That rarely happens to a Quidditch game!"  
  
The norwegian captain was talking with Mostafa. After a short time, Mostafa whistled six times.  
  
"Mostafa whistled six times! At Knutsen's request, the game is cancelled!"  
  
Then, Mostafa flew towards Bagman, and after a short talk he announced "The game was cancelled by the Norwegian captain, Knutsen. They have surrendered, and Romania wins the game... after barely ten minutes in the game!"  
  
"WHAT?" asked Harry.  
  
"Calm down, Harry," Mr. Wesaley told him, "The norwegians wanted that because they saw how dirty the romanians were playing! If they didn't do so, the entire team was likely to die... And no one would want that, would they?"  
  
After that, both teams went up to the top box, the box where Harry was in. He could hear the teams talking. Some of the players were having very interresting subjects -  
  
"...you did the Vasile Feint excellently, all of you!" said the romanian captain, "They really thought we were that stupid to not be able to play Quidditch! They really thought that something was happening to us when we stood frozen, and they started to slowen the game! Who knew what they thought that was happening to us? Oh, they were so stupid! And you performed excellently, even after that Vasile Feint! These Broomsticks are the best ever - and fastest, of course!..." Harry read what was written on the romanian broomsticks -- they were labelled, 'Mitraliera'.  
  
Harry immediately underdstood everything. The romanians stood frozen only because they were making a Vasile Feint, and the norwegians wanted to see what happened to the romanians. When the norewgians almost gave up, the romanians started flying with lightspeed and the norwegian team was completely confused. Everything was a setup - an exceptionally evil one. And, Norway gave up when they saw the romanian performances Even worse, one of their players had died! Harry wondered what the Mitraliera broomsticks were up to... what did it mean in romanian?  
  
The teams had a short talk with Mr. Bagman and then they went their separate ways. The crowd was leaving - including the Weasleys, and Harry. This was the weirdest Quidditch game ever... it would remain in the Quidditch history forever... 


	3. Birthday

Chapter 3: Birthday  
  
The match was over, and several thousands of people were leaving the Quidditch stadium heading to their tents. No one said anything, the recent match just let them with their mouth shut; everything was unexpected -- and the Romanians didn't play a fair game either. Harry was sure that there was no match like that in history - and he knew that no one will make that in the future. Or who knew... an idea of his team doing something like that passed through his mind... but it wouldn;t be of any use.  
  
Harry went back to the Weasley's tent. No one spoke yet, they were astounded by everything they saw only ten minutes ago. Everyone went to their own tent, and the Wesaleys started eating.  
  
After they finished eating, Harry asked Ron, "Wanna go to a walk outside?"  
  
"Sure," said Ron. They both went outside the tent, and watched the people around them packing and leaving. Very few haven't started the packing yet, and some of them were the Weasleys.  
  
"They are already leaving!?" asked Ron.  
  
"What else can they do? Stay here and wait for a Norwegian rematch? I think that we should go, too..."  
  
"Dad decides when we will, and he said that we will eat first and only after that we will leave."  
  
"Stay here? When everyone leaves? People may think that we are... up to something," said Harry, watching Dean Thomas, one of the Gryffindor fifth years, helping his mother to pack the tent with some various spells. "Your dad is mad!"  
  
Harry was sitting at the entrance to their tent, looking at the people around... Everyone was in a hurry. Why, he couldn't say. He saw Cho again, but she didn't see him that time; she was helping her family with the packing. Harry was reminded that only half an hour ago, they talked a little... His mind seemed to think for itself lots of times recently, and Harry was reminded of Cho many times. It was, mostly, that he felt responsible and guilty for Cedric's death, he was sure of that. Or was it more...?  
  
"It's very cloudy," said Ron while he pointed to something in the sky.  
  
"Yes..." said Harry, looking interrested at that.  
  
Both of them started laughing. "Wait a minute -" asked Ron, still laughing, "That can't be a cloud..."  
  
"What else?" Harry looked at it again. It didn't look like anything else than a dark cloud. Both of them stared at the cloud for a while and then they were distracted by someone screaming.  
  
"What is that?" asked Harry in a very fast voice.  
  
"Somebody screamed!" said Ron, "Let's go to see what happened."  
  
They stood up and started looking for anything bad - they had no idea what could have caused a person to scream like that. Harry thought about last year's riot and he thought the Death Eaters were going to start an evil plan again -- but they couldn't, because they were on Hogwarts grounds. That was way too dangerous and no Death Eaters could be that stupid -- well, if it wasn't for Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy's sidekicks, who were very stupid -- to do something on the Grounds...  
  
Harry and Ron explored everything around their tent but everything seemed fine. Hary noticed that there were very few tents on the Hogwarts Grounds at that time, mostly everyone left. And the only families who were still there were packing.  
  
Harry then saw that the Weasleys weren't even thinking of leaving yet. Ron went back to the tent, but Harry didn't; he saw the lake and walked to it. It was a very nice evening - the moon was shining brightly in the sky, lighting everything with a very low and pleasant light. Harry liked how it looked like.  
  
He sat down on the cold grass near the shore. This place was very comforting. Hogwarts was just at this back, he felt like he was at home. And the lake was bringing more memories than he could imagine...  
  
The first thing that came to his mind was his stupidity at the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. He wanted to do the other champions' jobs, and rescue all those who were locked up on the bottom of the lake. He took a message seriously which said thet the prisoners -- Ron, Hermione, Cho and Gabrielle, Fleur's sister -- would be gone forever after an hour. He had never understood how he could be that stupid. He imagined what the others were thinking of him when they found out why he waited that long on the bottom of the lake... still Dumbledore took his stupidity in a good way and gave him 90 percent of the maximum score, even if he was well outside the time limit.  
  
But one of those held on the bottom of the lake was Cho, herself... That brought her to Harry's memory once again.  
  
Then Harry felt someone touching his back. He stood up frightened. When he turned to see who the person was, Hary saw that it was just Dumbledore. He got scared for nothing...  
  
"Hello, Harry."  
  
"Good morning, Professor."  
  
Dumbledore smiled at that moment, and looked at the cloud-free sky, his eyes twinkled again as usual. "I thought it was evening... but if you say so, let it be morning."  
  
Harry understood what he said and almost started to laugh loud, but he prevented himself from doing it. After all, it was evening...  
  
"I see you wanted to be alone..." said Dumbledore in a warm, pleasant voice. "I understand it... everyone needs some time to be alone, to rest..."  
  
"Yes..." said Harry, then accidently he spit out, "I don't feel good when I am alone at the Dursleys."  
  
"Well... Know that not everything is as we want it to be. Remember this, remember that the future is not bright for everyone. No one knows what the future will do us... Not even Professor Trelawney." He smiled again, it was funny sometimes to gossip... Especially on Trelawney who did only two true predictions in her entire life.  
  
Harry knew that Dumbledore was completely right. Especially him; Harry liked being alone sometimes... The times when he stood at the Dursleys weren't comforting, but this time, sitting by the Hogwarts castle... it was different. One of the things that happened was that he always got too much atention, and he didn't like it. While lots of people would love to be famous, Harry just hated it, and he would have switched with anyone at anytime. He was sick of the stares at his scar everyone gave. He was sick of everyone looking at him when he walked. And, to make him feel worse, his best friend, Ron, was jealous on his fame and on the attention people always gave him.  
  
"Professor," said Harry, wanting to ask him what happened, "Why did everyone leave in that hurry?"  
  
"I have no idea what you are talking about," said Dumbledore. "I was in the castle until I saw you by the lake..."  
  
"We heard someone scream..." said Harry, and when he heard that, Dumbledore looked around at the Weasley tent, which was the only one who was still there.  
  
"I've got to go, Harry. See you," Dumbledore said hurriedly and he ran away. Harry didn't have any idea why he left. This gave Harry the same feeling that everyone gave him when they were in a hurry...  
  
Harry went back to his thoughts. He liked thinking about joyful things(he tried to leave the sad ones for another time again).  
  
Other things came to his mind. One of them was the book Hermoine gave him. He hadn't read anything from the book, even if he didn't have what to do. It was just that its name didn't sound too welcoming.  
  
Harry went later back to their tent, because Mr. Weasley called him. "Harry! Time to go!"  
  
"Why did everyone leave and we still remained?" asked Harry.  
  
"W - Er - W - What?" he asked, looking confused. Something very strange was happening to Mr. Weasley. "Oh."  
  
Harry stood and for a moment. Mr. Weasley looked as he was controlled by someone, or he was in a trance; and when Harry asked him that question he got out of it. But, what could it be? It wasn't an Imperius at all, because Harry saw with his eyes how Mr. Weasley 'woke up', and a thing like that will never be caused by an Imperius. Maybe it was a very strong Confundus Charm... It was the only possibility, Harry had never seen the Confundus Charm himself, so he imagined that the spell on Mr. Weasley was one.  
  
And, even with that, who would want to control Mr. Weasley? He wasn't so high in the Ministry so using him as a spy was almost useless. No one would want to control Mr. Weasley... but that was what Harry saw: he was controlled by someone...  
  
He tried to put that out of his mind, remembering that he still had more than a month to spend at the Dursleys.  
  
This summer, the Quidditch Match was almost nothing. Nothing, compared to what happened last year at the Final, where the people were enjoying looking at it, at least until the Death Eaters started having fun with the riot.  
  
"We will go home using another set of Portkeys," said Mr. Weasley. "We will all go to the Burrow, and Harry will go to the Dursleys from there. Here, touch this."  
  
He took a circular object from his pocket. That was a muggle object Harry recognized, he saw it on Dudley's computer: it was a CD.  
  
The entire family crowded around it. Being a very samll thing, it was very hard to be touched by ten persons at the same time. And when they all managed to do it, Harry felt again how it was to travel by a Portkey.  
  
They ended in front of the Burrow and Harry went sadder. He had to go, again, to live with the Dursleys... alone for another month... he just hoped he would be able to live off memories for another entire month. And, even worse, he had to wait until september first with the Dursleys annoying him all day. Errol's death came to Harry's mind; and it was just Uncle Vernon's fault - for eveything. That if Harry didn't consider that Errol entered Dudley's room instead of Harry's...  
  
"Here," said Mr. Weasley to Harry, "You cannot stay here, not even for ten minutes now - but take this portkey. This is supposed to bring you between Privet Drive number 4 and the Burrow for about twenty times. I worked very hard to build this, so come only if you really need."  
  
Mr. Weasley gave Harry another plug he turned into a portkey. But, before Harry could say good-bye to anyone, he saw his room on Privet Drive materialize... He had mistakenly activated the Portkey. "Damn!"  
Uncle Vernon's voice echoed through the house, saying something like "That little idiot is back". Harry had nothing to say to argue about that, because anything he said could have had a bad consequence. Then, the door slid open and Uncle Vernon's moustache appeared in the small room. Shortly after, Uncle Vernon entered inside...  
  
"Already back, boy?" he asked. "Well, know that the days without you were better than the others - and I want you to not disturb us. Be careful, this is not tolerated!"  
  
Then he talked a little more, Harry didn't listen to all of it. He just knew that, again (the first time was in his second year) they limited his access into the house. Vernon told him not to go out of his room more than at meals, and he also told him to eat fast and go to his room as quickly as possible.  
  
Even though this time he wasn't locked in his room, it wasn't a lot of difference. He could never find something to think about, and he couldn't bring back too many memories... All he had to do was to read Hermione's book, except from the homework the Hogwarts teachers gave him.  
  
So, he took the Dark Book of Dark Arts, and opened it. He felt nothing strange when doing so, and that made sure that it wasn't an evil book. The first chapter was called 'What are the Dark Arts'. And he proceeded to reading the first few lines, to make an image of what the book was about.  
  
''What are the Dark Arts? This is a question asked by many wizards. There are many kinds of dark arts, some of them are not considered dark anymore -- like common curses. Everybody knows that there are some strong spells used by Dark Wizards, but not many know why only the evil ones use them.  
  
These spells are quite easy to use. They need some dark power from the body of the caster, and the rest is easy - everything is done by the spell. The caster only had to think that he had to use the spell, and do a little concentration. He had no need of a wand, incantation, he only needed to think that he wanted to use it and a strong desire to do it, an urge too prove yourself. Besides that, these spells are quite draining.  
  
Many people were attracted by those spells. And - no one can explain why - everyone who abused this kind of spells had his mind changed. In his mind were printed words like "kill", "hurt", "steal". This is an unexplained effect, and in the history there were only two wizards who used the spells wothout turning evil.  
  
The first case was about one thousand years ago. Godric Gryffindor, who was one of the founders of Hogwarts, learnt some dark arts, and used them against Slytherin, to stop his evil plans. Everyone knew that Salazar was evil, but no one could prove it. And their only chance was Godric, because he could control Salazar and force him to do some good things.  
  
The second case discovered is, also, one of the most known wizards of all times. Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts, learnt the Dark Arts himself, by pure couriosity. But he didn't turn evil, and even though he saw that he couldn't turn Evil, he was too noble to use them. He had only used them against Grindelwald in 1945.  
  
But not all the dark wizards turn evil only after learning the dark arts. The other case is that they learn them only after they turn evil, and they do it to be a dark wizard. Others would say, "what dark wizard is the one who doesn't know the Dark Arts?".  
  
Being that simple to use, the evil wizards abuse them, ignoring their energy-draining effects. They have strong effects, too, being able to do much stronger things than simple spells. Every single spell has a similar dark art, which is used easier. That's why most of the Dark Wizards know strong spells - actually they don't. It's just the Dark Arts who help them...''  
  
This was the book's introduction. Harry thought it was quite interresting, and a strange desire to learn the Dark Arts passed through him... he felt a cold breeze in his insides...  
  
What am I thinking about, he asked himself, before getting angry with himself for even thinking to learn the dark arts - and that meant turning evil... He pictured himself fighting Dumbledore - no, he couldn't have that...  
  
Then, what would Cho think of him if he was a dark wizard, siding with Voldemort? He didn't even want to think about that either...  
He continued reading the book. Other pages explained some of the dark spells. Harry understood why they were that destructive - a levitating spell only needed for the caster to think of where he wanted to see an object, and it automatically flied to that point. The only bad thing was that if a wizard tried to make an object fly over a too long distances, he would be so drained that he couldn't even stand on his feet. Harry just imagined a Wingardium Leviosa doing something like that...  
  
Everything was so easy, indeed... But then, he remembered something. Dumbledore told them at the end of the school year that the time would come when they had to choose of what is right and what is easy. This was the time - the Dark Arts were easy, but it would be right to stay to the good side... And, after all, Harry wasn't in Slytherin. The ones who turned evil were all slytherins... Or would he be the first Gryffindor to turn Evil?  
  
No.  
  
He had never thought of something like that before, and tried to ignore that he ever thought of something like that - it just made him feel worse, and like an idiot. And if he didn't ignore that, it would haunt him for a long time...  
  
Time passed faster when Harry was reading that book... It was something interresting, Hermione had a very good idea to send him that book. At least, he learned something useful, not all the 'stupidities' Hermione read. 'stupidities' was the word given by Harry and Ron to what she read.  
One day, he realized that it was his birthday. He almost forgot it, mainly because it wasn't a very important event for him. He remembered it only a few minutes before a pack of owls hurried to his window, clicking their beacks to make him open it. He woke up and opened the window, and Harry felt some cold air get in the room.  
  
There were five letters this time. Harry took the first one, and saw Hermione's writing on it.  
Drar Harry,  
  
I hope things are getting better. Happy birthday! When will you go to Diagon Alley? We might meet there. See you!  
  
Love, Hermione  
The letter had another book in a bigger parcel. The owl that brought it was very tired, Harry allowed it to stay in Hedwig's cage. He saw that the book was looking almost the same as the first one. He tried to find the title, but it didn't have any.  
  
Ron's letter was next, and he told Harry they will go to Diagon Alley one week before the school started. Harry sent Pigwidgeon back with another letter telling Ron that Harry agreed to meet them there, but he asked how to go there.  
  
Ron's present was something Harry had never expected from Ron - Maybe from Hermione - it was a wand-cleaner. It was very odd to have something like that from a person like Ron...  
  
Harry then proceeded to the next letter. It was Hagrid's. From the time Harry touched it, lots of sweets burst out of it, filling a part of the floor with tasty things Harry already knew. Then, he read the short letter.  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
Happy Birthday!  
I hope you will like what I sent you. I suppose the Dursleys are starving you, aren't they?  
Anyway, have a nice summer. And don't forget to survive - who knows what the Dursleys are going to do you this time.  
  
Cheers, Hagrid  
  
Then, the next letter was from Sirius. It did not contain any letter; everything was the few lines Sirius sent him.  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
Happy Birthday! You should know where I live by now, I won't tell you because the owl may fail and fall in hands of someone who we won't like to know where I am. The only thing is that I had no present to give you. Sorry about that, I will consider something else as a late birthday present...  
  
Love, Sirius  
  
Harry read the letter and was glad that Sirius was fine. He knew from the end of last year that Sirius lived with Lupin, and that was a good thing - it meant he was safe. Harry saw that the last letter was from Hogwarts. It had to be McGonagall's letter saying what he needed for the fifth year. Harry proceeded to read what she had to say.  
  
'Hogwarts fifth years need new sets of cauldrons and potion ingredients.' That was the first line in the letter. He read them fast, and looked at the book list...  
  
'The Standard Book of Spells, grade 5 by Miranda Goshawk  
The Advanced Book Of Spells by Lysander Pigwett  
Advanced Crystal Gazing by George Lunatikum  
Advanced Transfigutation by Emeric Switch  
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot  
Hogwarts, a History by anonymous writers  
Dark Powers: Counter-curses by Alastor Moody  
One Hundred Potion Formulas by The Yobag'  
  
The first thing he thought about was the Dark Powers: Counter-curses by Alastor Moody. Last year, they had the defense against the dark arts teacher a Fake Moody, who turned out to be Barty Crouch Jr, the most faithful of the Death Eaters. And they all knew that the real Moody should have been very good against Dark Arts, because he was one of the best aurors existant in the times of Voldemort.  
  
He already had some of the books, but some others were new. Harry stared at the line where it said 'Hogwarts, A History'. It was the book Hermione most annoyed them. 'Haven't you read Hogwarts, A History?', 'It's in Hogwarts, A History'... Both Ron and Hermione were sick of the times when she mentioned that. This year, they would have to read the book... Harry wondered what Hermione would say about it.  
  
He then started to do his homework. He continued the Potions one, writing about Sleeping potions('It would be fun to give a strong sleep potion to Malfoy!' said Harry in his thoughts). He almost finished it when Pigwidgeon was back, and Harry read the letter,  
Dear Harry!  
  
I've spoken to my dad and he said he gave you a portkey that would bring you to us. Come to us the last sunday before Hogwarts starts, and we will all leave from there. Hermione will be in Diagon Alley then, too. You may come today, too! Dad said that you may stay at us but not more than half an hour.  
  
See you soon - Ron  
Harry turned happier while he read the letter. He forgot about the Portkey Mr. Weasley made for him. The thought of seeing his friends took his attention completely. He looked around the small room to search for the portkey, but where did he put it? He didn't remember it...  
  
Then, he started searching the entire room for it. The forst place to be searched was the table and under the bed. And he searched, until relief came to him: he saw it in a corner of the room, hidden by a book.  
  
'Wierd, I don't remember putting it here', said Harry in his head.  
  
Forgetting all of it, he took the portkey and held it in his hand. It was a mystery for him how they worked, but he knew that there were many types of portkeys. He wondered what type of portkey was this. And after a few seconds, he found himself at the Burrow.  
  
But, mysteriously, it was very quiet. The usual explosions created by Fred and George were missing, even the Ghoul from the attic seemed to not be there. Harry wanted to know what happened, and explored the house -- he searched it entirely and it was as empty as it was quiet. There was no one inside it... Judging that Mrs. Weasley rarely left the house, Harry thought that something was going on. Not to forget that Mr. Weasley said that he could come that day.  
  
Wondering if it was just one of the Weasley's jokes, or maybe a surprise, he searched in every corner of the house -- and there was no person inside. It was something very strange.  
  
He waited for a few minutes, and he left a note saying that he was there. Then, he took again the Portkey and left. He had in mind that there was something very unusual going on... but what? He couldn't tell that... he now had another mystery to solve... added to the already very long list - starting with the fall of Lord Voldemort, fourteen years ago; after that there was a question: how did he do a Patronus to drive off more than one hundred dementors in his third year. Then, he wondered what was Voldemort doing - and the list fo questions was very long.  
  
After going back to the Dursleys, he looked at the book Hermione gave him for his birthday. He took it and opened it, seeing nothing. That reminded him of Tom Riddle's -- that meant Voldemort's -- diary that forced Ginny to open the Chamber of Secrets.  
  
He took his quill, wrote something in the book, but it didn't disappear. It didn't look like a diary anyway, it was just like an unwritten book. He told himself that he would try to solve its mistery later, and put it back under the bed.  
He soon fell asleep that evening. 


	4. Safety

Chapter 4: Safety  
The day when he had to go to Diagon Alley soon came. It was early in the morning, and he wondered at what time would he go to the Weasleys. He decided to leave soon - they usually left to Diagon Alley in the morning.  
  
He got out of the bed, and felt the hunger in his stomach. But he didn't want to go to the Dursleys for food, he didn't want to greet them; all he wanted was to see the Weasleys. He took the portkey - remembering what happened the last time he went to the Weaseys with it. Harry thought he would find out what happened when he will see them -- hoping that the portkey worked as it should have this time. Or was it the Portkey?  
  
He didn't take anything except the key to his vault at Gringotts. Locking the door, so the Dursleys wouldn't enter, he took the portkey and the next moment he was in the Weasley Kitchen. Hoping that he won't find the house empty, he opened his eyes. And he was relieved to see Mrs. Weasley cleaning the dishes.  
  
"Harry! Hello!" she said, and then she shouted, "HEY! HARRY IS HERE!"  
  
Next moment, the entire Weasley family was in the kitchen, except for Ginny. Not having time to wonder where she was, and thinking that she usually avoided him(because everyone knew that she had a crush on Harry from the moment she saw him), he greeted everyone.  
  
Harry saw that Bill and Charlie were home this time, too. He wondered why they were not at work... Bill worked in Egypt for Gringotts and Vharlie was studying dragons in Romania. Harry also hoticed that Mr. Weasley was acting completely normal this time. He didn't look confounded like he did at the Quidditch Cup... Harry just prayed that it wasn't anything very bad.  
  
"Who is he, Mum?" asked Fred. George was looking confused, Harry knew they were just acting another joke, but they were doing it perfectly.  
  
"Fred, stop it!" said Mrs. weasley annoyed. Both Fred and George stopped the joke and normally greeted Harry.  
  
"How is life?" asked Mrs. Weasley in a warm voice.  
"How can it be," answered Harry, "with the Dursleys, everything is as bad as possible." The next he wanted to do was to solve the mystery: where were the Weasleys when he was last time at their house. And he continued, "I came to the Burrow the day Ron told me, but no one was here."  
  
"Uh?" she asked confused. She looked to the other family members.  
  
"No way," continued Ron, "We were here... And Mum never left the house in the summer."  
  
With that answer, Harry's intention to solve the mystery had proven to be impossible -- at least for that time. trying to think about it just made things even more complicated and mysterious. That gave him more things to think about, and he didn't want that; there were enough of them already.  
  
"What's up?" asked Fred and George in the same time.  
  
Then, Harry told them more about his previous visit at the Burrow, and everyone remained silent. This was a very unusual story, there was --  
  
"Something evil about it", said Mr. Weasley. "This time, it is not to joke with You-Know-Who. As we know, he had risen again, and we do not know what he is planning. We are lucky that we have half of the ministry by our side - I mean they believed us when we told them that He had came again. Terrible things, terrible. This may be his work..." His face became one of great worry, just as Mrs. Weasley's.  
  
"Damn this Fudge," said Charlie. "He still doesn't want to believe that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named --"  
  
"Voldemort", said Harry. Everyone looked at him.  
  
Charlie continued, "-- that He is back. This Minister will see how wrong he is very soon..."  
  
"Thinking about this," continued Mr. Weasley, "Recently there were multiple unusual -- extremely unusual -- things. Not only once, we saw the Dark Mark rising exactly near the Ministry Office, and Fudge said nothing happened. He declares that no one is missing, and that he didn't see the mark -- I don't blame him because his office does not have a window. But, really, how can he be so -- how to say --"  
  
"Idiot," continued Harry without thinking.  
  
"-- Er, Harry, --"  
  
"Forget it," said George, "Dad doesn't like when you talk bad things about his boss."  
  
"Shut up, George!" said Mr. Weasley. "Well, let's say like that; how can be so idiot to not believe that You-Know-Who is back? And half of the Ministry thinks he is never wrong... And I heard Dumbledore does not recieve letters anymore from Fudge asking for advice about how to lead the Ministry. They both went their separate ways... I just hope everything will be okay, just as it was before..." Harry thought a little about how things were before: The Sorcerer's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, and then Sirius Black, all these things brought terrible danger... a danger which was always looking for Harry.  
  
"We all hope that everything will be okay," said Mrs. Weasley.  
"Harry," said Ron trying to change the subject, "Wanna come to my room? I have to show you something you might like."  
  
Harry got up, and asked Ron, "What?"  
  
"Come up and you will see."  
  
They both hurried up the stairs and went to Ron's room. The house was exactly the same as it was before, and Ron's room was no exception. It was just like before -- Lots of posters with Chudley Cannons, his favourite Quidditch team, were put on the orange wall.  
  
"What was the thing you wanted to show me?"  
  
"Oh, it wass nothing. Just wanted to tell you about what Fred and George invented over the summer."  
  
"What was it?"  
  
Ron grinned. "They played a joke on Mum. The only bad thing was that she wasn't delighted about them and cast a spell to set fire on every suspicious thing... Lucky that they hid some things --"  
  
Then Ron was stopped by Fred and George who suddenly entered the room. They looked angry and disappointed.  
  
"What happened?" asked Ron.  
  
"The things we saved... are gone!" Fred answered.  
  
"WHAT?" asked Ron. Harry knew what they were talking about. Mrs. Weasley got rid of everything they created - the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes were gone. "No, it can't be possible!"  
  
"Unfortunately, they are. Only the plans are left... we have to re-make everything..."  
  
They were very sad, and soon left, leaving Harry and Ron alone.  
  
"What was the thing they did to her?" Harry asked.  
  
"They replaced the dishes with fake ones that melted after they were cleaned up. And you can imagine how angry Mum was after washing the dishes, only to see that they melted away... she had to find the real ones then. And when she did, she went straight to Fred and George's room, and destroyed everything that was connected to their joke shop. Except that, she put them to clean the real dishes..."  
  
They talked about those things, and then they heard Mrs. Weasley say, "It is twelve o'clock, dears! We have to go to Diagon Alley!"  
  
Harry exited the room, and saw something flew to Mrs. Weasley. Harry couldn't believe his eyes - it was something unreal... Errol was standing in front of Mrs. Weasley, and she gave him a letter, saying 'Give this to Fudge. Arthur needs something very important from him."  
  
But Errol died - Harry saw it dead with his own eyes at the Dursleys... what was happening?  
  
It was another owl, definitely. That couldn't be Errol... The Weasleys had just bought a new owl...  
  
"Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked filled with couriousty. "Is that Errol?"  
  
"Yes, dear... What a stupid question!"  
  
It was impossible. Either that, or the dead owl, was not Errol... And Mrs. Weasley didn't know it. And Harry was sure the one that Uncle Vernon killed was Errol, because Harry saw it too well...  
  
But the one he had in front of him was Errol, too -- no doubt... Something dark was happening, Harry thought.  
  
He preffered to keep that quiet, to not give the Weasleys reasons to worry - he was sure that was what they would do. And, ingoring the recent events, he continued to listen to what Mrs. Weasley wanted to say before they left to Diagon Alley...  
  
"We're going to go by Floo Powder," said Mrs. Weasley while Harry almost spit out a bad word. Floo Powder was the mean of transport he would want to go the least. "I know we are in a hurry, but... what made us wait until twelve o'clock?"  
  
She collected all the family, and took a little floo powder. They all went to the living room near the fire, and she threw some Floo Powder into the orange flames, that turned green. She was the first to enter the fire. After she was covered in green flames, she disappeared.  
  
Fred and George were next, soon followed by Ron. And, after that, it was Harry's turn to go... He took the floo powder, and, hesitantly, he threw it into the Fire. He entered the fire, and - yet again - his mouth was full of ash. It was almost like the experience he had in his second year. But he wouldn't want that - it caused him to miss the destination, and went to the Knockturn Alley...  
  
"D-Diagon Alley!" he said as clear as he could. The whirling feeling came again to him, and, thankfully, he was in one of the fireplaces in the Diagon Alley.  
  
Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George and Ron were all waiting for the others to come out. The next one was Ginny. And the last who came was Mr. Weasley, surely Bill and Charlie didn't come to Diagon Alley, and Percy was too 'busy' to come, at least that was what he said.  
  
They went their separate ways, to buy the different course books they needed. The only thing was that they didn't meet Hermione. She told them to come that day because she was there, too, but where was she?  
  
After they bought their course books, they met Draco Malfoy. "Oh no," said Harry to himself, knowing that the good day would be destroyed by Malfoy. All of the Gryffindors hated Mafloy because he was too evil, and so did Harry. Especially Harry.  
  
"Potthead and Weasel!!!" said Malfoy in a delighted voice. "How did you manage to buy the new year's books this time, Weasley?"  
  
Both Harry and Ron almost jumped on Malfoy to knock him down, but Mr. Malfoy came, too...  
  
"Leave him alone!" he said to Harry. He was almost ready to jump on Mr. Malfoy in fury too, to give him a punch... But he remembered that he was a wizard. Totally losing control, he took his wand and shouted, "Scurtupa!"  
  
At that moment, his target's - Draco Malfoy's - hair fell on the ground, with a very high speed... the scene was funny though, and Harry was ready to burst into a loud laugh. Just then, he realized the graveness of the situation. It should have made Mr. Malfoy very angry. "Potter, never try to do that again - or you will be in big trouble."  
  
"What? Will you send your master to kill me? He had failed three times by now..." he said, more braver than he felt, still not thinking about what could happen because of his daring. Every word came out of his mouth uncontrolled, and he wished he hadn't said that, seeing Draco's and Lucius's face darken.  
  
"We will settle this later," Mr. Malfoy said befure he shut his mouth, took the hairless Draco and left. Harry quite gave him a fright - saying loudly that he was one of Voldemort's servants, with so many people around... Everyone could understand that the words 'your master' meant Voldemort...  
  
It wasn't long until Harry and Ron started talking about not meeting Hermione. They decided to owl her later, asking her why she wasn't there. And talking about Hermione, his mind flew off slowly... he immeidately thought about Cho. He pictured her in his mind, and then came back to talking with Ron about Malfoy...  
They saw the Quality Quidditch Supplies shop and lots of children around it. Harry didn't need to see what they were looking at - He saw Hassan Mostafa at the Quidditch World Cup on a new broom, called RazorBroom. That made him and Ron go and see it from a smaller distance.  
  
-- RAZOR BROOM --  
  
THIS BROOM IS THE NEWEST  
INVENTION. IT HAS A GREAT  
ACCELERATION AND TURNING,  
GIVING THE RIDER A VERY  
EASY CONTROL OF THE BROOM.  
FASTER THAN THE FIREBOLT  
BUT NOT WITH TOO MUCH,  
BECAUSE THE RIDER COULD  
BE THROWN OFF HIS BROOM  
AT A TOO HIGH SPEED.  
-- FOR THE PRICE TALK TO THE SHOPKEEPER --  
  
Harry and Ron didn't need to go and ask how much it costed - Harry wondered if his vault would get empty if he tried to buy that...  
  
Never, Harry thought. He had too much money inherited from his parents - a broom couldn't be that expensieve.  
  
While they were looking at the Razor, they heard Mrs. Weasley's voice calling them. "It's time to go home! Harry dear, come on!"  
  
They had no other alternative than to do what Mrs. Wesaley said. And Harry had to go, again, to the Dursleys... He didn't want that, but what else could he do?  
He couldn't remember how everything passed - it seemed so fast. They went to the Burrow, and Harry used the Portkey to go to the Dursleys - that was done in less than two minutes... he was back to the bad life at the Dursleys, thinking of the weird things again. He tried to put them off his mind lately, but he just couldn't do that. What happened to Errol? What happened that day when he travelled by the Portkey to the Weasleys and he hadn't found anyone?  
  
One afternoon, Harry felt something very strange. He felt like his mind was empty - his worries left him, and all he did was to lie on his bed in the small room the Dursleys gave him, he stood there for about three hours without thinking of anything -- not history, not Cho -- Harry felt like he didn't spend four years at the Hogwats school, like he didn't meet any onf his friends. However, later on that day, his mind wsa back to normal.  
  
That day he finished his Charms homework. He liked what he had to do, he had to write about Summoning Charms - how they consider it - hard or simple, when he used it and things like that. Harry wondered what Neville would write at that homework - considering that he was almost a Squib, he was hardly able to do any magic at all. And when he did it, it usually was destructive.  
  
And at the evening, something even stranger happened...  
  
A brown owl was at the window, an owl he had never seen. He let it enter, and it left a letter on Harry's bed before flying away. Harry saw a letter like that once before - and that was a bad thing. The last time he saw that kind of letter was before his second year. He knew that it was from the Ministry of Magic, that was an underage magic warning. He had recieved one because a house-elf performed a hover charm, and they thought it was Harry. But this time, it was much weirder, because he didn't do any spell! He started reading it.  
Dear Mr Potter,  
  
We have recieved intelligence that multiple Memory Charms were used at your place of residence this afternoon at four minutes past three, and last days we discovered many attempts of this spell, part of them were succesfull.  
  
As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spell work on your part may lead to expulsion from said school(Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).  
  
We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks noticeby members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlock's Statue of Socrecy.  
  
Enjoy your holidays! Yours sincerely,  
  
Mafalda Hopkirk  
  
IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE  
Ministry of Magic  
It was as he suspected. He couldn't forget how that letter looked like in his second year. But - who did perform a spell at the Dursley House? It wasn't Harry, and everything he knew was that it was a Memory Charm.  
  
Then it hit him.  
  
That was the reason why he forgot lots of things lately - someone was casting memory charms on him! But what could he do against it? He had nothing to do, except to write some letters telling what happened this time, and asking questions. But who to write first? Ron? Hermione? Sirius? Or, Dumbledore?  
  
That was the answer. The best choice was to tell Dumbledore about it. He was the only one who could do a thing about it -- at least, to give him advice. He took a piece of parchment, and wrote to Dumbledore a letter telling him what he read and what happened. He told him that he forgot things more than once, and that he was given a letter from the Ministry... And after that he called Hedwig, and told her to bring the letter to Dumbledore as fast as he could - before someone would erase his memory completely. He was reminded of Lockhart... He was one who used loads of these charms to trick people into thinking that he was a very good wizard, while he was just a 'stupid brainless git', as Ron described him.  
  
And who -- better asking, which Death Eater -- was casting Memory Charms? He wondered if it was Malfoy or Wormtail - but it wasn't necesarrily to be them. There were loads of Death Eaters who walked free... at the same time Harry was thinking these words, Voldemort was free to do any evil thing his heart -- if he had any -- desired.  
  
After all, what did it matter who was the one casting memory charms on Harry. The important fact was that someone was trying to make him forget something - or everything... Harry couldn't do anything more than just guess, and that was a very scary thing to think about.  
  
Worried, he went to his bed and lied on it. The things that happened that day were unimaginable. Finding out that his enemy tried to erase his memory... or at least a part of it, the last hopes he still had inside were suddenly gone. He couldn't think of anything else -- maybe only about Errol's supposed death. Or revival -- it could be possible that Errol had some unknown powers -- Scabbers, Ron's rat, which he considered useless, turned out to be an animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew.  
  
Hedwig could barely be seen flying in the distance. The sky was a bright blue, promissing a bright future; but Harry doubted it could have been like that to him...  
  
He had fallen asleep, even if it was barely six o'clock, and he was woken up, again, by some owls at the window. He had expected to see Dumbledore's, but there were many of them.  
  
The one Dumbledore sent was the first one Harry picked up - Hedwig was proud of what she had done to Harry. "Hedwig, you saved my life again," he said more in a joke.  
  
He then proceeded to read the letter...  
Dear Harry,  
  
This is no surprising news. Lately, I have been informed of lots of murders and other things done by those pesky -- Harry stopped a little, surprised to see Dumbledore use that word -- Death Eaters. You are one of several targets chosen by Voldemort himself, he had sent his Death Eaters to accomplish different things at each target. I guess the Memory Charms he tried to do had an effect. If they had, let me know. Can you remember anything you've forgot? It may give us a clue on what he is trying to make you forget.  
  
P.S. You should come to Hogwarts as soon as possible. You are no longer safe at the Dursleys.  
  
P.S.S. I sent the Ministry a letter telling them to clear the underage magic warning they sent you. They said it was alright.  
  
Albus Dumbledore  
Harry looked up the letter again and re-read it. If it was as Dumbledore said, he was in a terrible danger. The Death Eater would try more things than he did before - more than just some 'stupid' Memory Charms. What if the Death Eater would use an Imperius on Harry?  
  
The other letters he read were not as important as Dumbledore's. One was from Sirius, saying mostly the same things as Dumbledore did; the next one was Ron's which told him when they had to go to King's Cross("Pity that I won't go to the King's Cross this year...")  
  
Then, he had nothing else to do than to ask Dumbledore how he would go to Hogwarts before the term started. He looked around searching for a quill and a parchment. He wrote a letter as fast as he could telling Ron that he had to go to Hogwarts before the other students did, and gave it to Pigwidgeon. The owl from Sirius already left so Harry couldn't answer to him. Then, he started concentrating on what he could write to Dumbledore.  
  
But nothing came to his mind. So he decided to put it short and straight to the subject, anyway, he had no alternative than to wait another week until something came to his head.  
  
Dear Professor Dumbledore,  
  
I wanted to tell you that I have forgotten a few things, but they were only minor ones(from all I remember). And I want to ask how will you come to take me.  
  
Sincerly,  
Harry Potter  
  
Then he looked outside and saw that it was still dark. The owls had nothing better to do than to wake him up. Lying again in his bed, he had fallen asleep quite soon, and when he got up it was quite late in the morning.  
  
"Damn! I missed breakfast again!" he said to himself running on the staircase to see if there was anything that could be eaten left. But unfortunately the Dursleys were in the living room, and the kitchen was deserted. His stomach was empty and he had no food from his friends... the only thing he had to do was to wait until they would eat lunch, while he hoped that he wouldn't die of hunger -- What the hell am I thinking about, he said, going back to his room and writing a reply to Ron's letter saying that he couldn't go with them to Hogwarts.  
  
After lunch, where Dudley kept arguing with his parents because he was getting too little food, Harry saw a very strange owl. It had a deep red color, had small size and Harry was reminded of Fawkes, who was Dumbledore's phoenix.  
  
He took the letter and read it; the first line was short. "I will come to get you myself." Then Harry continued forward and read that the strange owl was a very rare bird - magically created, effect of mixing an owl and a phoenix. That was, according to Dumbledore, a Phoenix Owl, and Harry looked its beautiful wings. They were just like Fawkes's ones.  
  
While Harry was looking at the Phoenix Owl, he had noticed that there was someone who wasn't pleased at all about Harry admiring it. And that person was Hedwig, who was hooting loudly, and Harry understood that she was angry.  
  
"Hedwig!" he said wondering what she was thinking. "Quiet down!"  
  
She listened to his words and stopped. Dumbledore's owl flew outside the window, and Harry wondered what Muggles would think seeing a strange red bird flying proudly in the air.  
  
Soon after the bird disappeared in the clouds that were forming outside, Harry heard a scream from downstairs.  
  
He stood on his feet and ran downstairs to see what happened again, hoping that he won't see anything that would make him too angry because he may reach an end with the Dursleys. And, as he was hurrying down the stairs, he heard Uncle Vernon telling Dudley, with a scared voice, something about long-bearded wizards.  
  
After that Harry saw that it was nothing to get scared about, it was only Dumbledore who stood amused in front of the terrified Dursleys.  
  
"What," he asked Vernon, "made you run away from me like that?" he continued in a very amused voice.  
  
`"YOU STAY AWAY FROM US!" Vernon replied with a voice that almost made Harry deaf.  
  
"Calm down, because there is nothing to be scared about," he continued before noticing Harry on the staircase. "Harry! I hope things are going -- er, well?"  
  
Harry didn't reply. He seemed to be the only one who could notice the strangeness of scene. Dumbledore was standing amused in front of the Dursleys, who seemed to have long-beard-allergy, according to what Harry heard them talking before.  
  
"Well, come on, because you are in danger here, Harry."  
  
Harry walked slowly towards Dumbledore wondering what would be next. Uncle Vernon was angrier than usual. He seemed to not like Dumbledore at all, and, at a second thought, they couldn't really do it: they had a lack of sense of humour, and what to say about the fact that Dumbledore was a wizard.  
  
"And, be warned, Dursleys," Dumbledore continued noticing their attitude towards him, "I think you are in danger as well."  
  
Harry couldn't think properly, and he couldn't imagine why the Dursleys could be in danger, but it didn't bother him. All he wanted to know was that he left their house and went to Hogwarts as early as possible... but then, what could he do at Hogwarts? No one was there in the middle of the summer... Only two things were better. He had what to eat, and the library would be empty - unless Madam Pince was there in midsummer, which he doubted.  
  
He told Dumbledore to wait until he would get with his trunk - and hurriedly he packed everything he needed. Then, he followed the long-bearded old wizard out of the house.  
  
"Harry, we will go to Hogwarts by Knight Bus. I don't think there are many alternatives, because I have no Floo Powder." Harry didn't like Floo Powder at all, so he decided that it was better with the Knight Bus .  
  
Dumbledore raised his wand hand, and in a few seconds a blinding light penetrated through Harry's eyes - it was just like the last time. The purple bus stopped in front of them, its blinding lights were exactly in Harry's eyes.  
  
Stan Shunpike immediately came out of the bus. Harry knew thim, he had met him twice before - once in the bus and once at the Quidditch World Cup(where he was enchanted by a Veela...).  
  
"Professor Dumbledore, sir!" Stan said noticing who had just raised the wand to call the bus. "And, look! Ern! It's Neville again!" After a small pause, while the driver, Ernie Prang, told him something, he answered, "Harry Potter! Didn't he say he was Neville last time?" He laughed a bit, making Harry a little uncomfortable with Dumbledore standing near him.  
  
"Where to, sir?" he asked, looking at Dumbledore in surprise.  
  
"Hogwarts," Dumbledore continued.  
  
"Fourteen sickles each," Stan cdontinued waiting for the payment. Harry remembered last time when he gave him some gold instead of silver sickles.  
  
Dumbledore and Harry gave him the money. "Sit down -- and -- hold tight..."  
  
Then, Harry felt the great speed of the Knight Bus, and the next moment he was thrown backward again just like the first time. Dumbledore seemed to be holding very well, because Harry didn't notice anything at him -- as if the bus didn't even start.  
  
The bus was not too comfortable, but Harry was sure it was fast. As they were going towards Hogwarts, Harry heard Stan talking about the Ministry and its problems -- mainly the same things that Mr. Weasley had told him before going to Diagon Alley. He had heard them talking about lots of wizards disappearing, and the Ministry building getting emptier with each passing day.  
  
"Look, Ern! Only too 'ours ago... there was another attack in the Ministry! Looks like they wanna get rid of the entire Ministry, dont 'ey?"  
  
Harry didn't like hearing that. How could he like that, when Mr. Weasley was working there?  
  
"I guess there're lotsa' dark ones working at the Ministry. I'd get rid o' them as soon as I could if I were Fudge. But look at 'im! 'ee is denying aniffin' -- how can 'ee when people --"  
  
Stan didn't finish the last word entirely because he was stopped by something that sounded like a crash. They hit something with the Knight Bus, that was Harry's first thought. But then he realized that the Knight Bus couldn't hit things, because everything got out of its way and then went back.  
  
"ERN! WHAT WAZZ THAT?" asked Stan loudly after the bus continued going normal again.  
  
"We hit someone... It's nothing to be scared of."  
  
"NUFFINK TO BE SCARED OF?" he asked. "Ern, you jus' hit someone!"  
  
Harry knew that he was wrong again. After all, not all things were getting out of the bus's way, especially humans.  
  
"Now this's the first time to hit someone," Stan continued while Ernie got out of the bus to see who he had hit. But, soon after, he rushed back on his seat and ran again at full speed. He was very terrified by something -- or by someone. Who had he hit with the bus?  
  
"Ern? Who wazz it?"  
  
But the driver didn't do anything to show that he heard Stan asking him something.  
  
"Ern?"  
  
"It was... Come closer," he said, and then he had talked in such a low voice that Harry couldn't understand.  
  
Harry noticed the weirdest thing -- Dumbledore seemed to not be disturbed by anything. It looked like he knew that would happen...  
  
"Professor?" Harry asked surprised of his quietness.  
  
"Yes, Harry?"  
  
"Who do you think they hit with the bus?"  
  
"I have no idea, Harry, but I am sure that he had deserved it... You saw the way the driver came in? He seemed to have met a Death Eater..."  
  
Harry's mind immediately flew to the Death Eater who kept trying to modify his memory. Maybe he was the same wizard, or maybe not; Harry didn't know where the bus was at that moments. But he was sure of one thing: They had to be very far from the Dursleys.  
  
After a boring time, Stan started to talk. "Harry? Mr. Dumbledore? It's time you shou' prepare. We're soon at Hogwarts."  
  
Harry and Dumbledore stood up and prepared for the bus's stop, which came very soon. "Hogwarts," Stan said while Harry and Dumbledore were getting out of the bus. "See ya! And 'ave a nice day!"  
  
They soon evtered the castle. The big Entrance Hall was in front of them, and Dumbledore told Harry, "Get to the Gryffindor Tower. I think you may want some rest..."  
  
That was exactly what Harry wanted. There were lots of things running through his head, and only a good sleep could drive them off -- at least he hoped it would...  
  
He then went to the empty Gryffindor Common Room(The Fat Lady didn't ask for any password because the term hadn't started yet). He went straight to his bedroom, and he sat on his four-poster. trying to sleep, memories came even faster than usual -- only the new things were haunting him. He didn't think of anything that happened last year at Hogwarts, but he couldn't say that about the big mysteries -- Errol, the Memory Charms, and his visit at the Weasleys... Thinking about his memory, he wondered if there was anything important that he forgot -- he didn't want to forget something exactly at these dark times. And after about half an hour, he fell asleep, thinking that at least at Hogwarts he was at safety. 


	5. Invisible Fear

Chapter 5: Invisible Fear  
  
He woke up the next morning and at first he wondered what happened -- where he was. He was used at staying at the Dursleys and when he woke up, he usually saw the small room on Privet Drive -- but this time he was in a darker room.  
  
But suddenly he remembered the last day's events. And the first thing he thought about was what he was going to do all the day, even if he was at Hogwarts. At first it seemed nothing after living two months with the Dursleys, but Harry found it as boring as it was before.  
  
He walked out of the dark bedroom he slept in and saw that the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room was lit up. The thought of sitting in that room the entire day wasn't welcoming, because he was tired of waiting -- so he decided to go to the least boring place he could find in a holiday - the library... That wasn't made only for Hermione after all.  
  
But walking towards the library, he realized that he was hungry. Dumbledore was there, and everyone had to eat, and he was no exception, so he decided to pay a visit to the Great Hall. He remembered in his third year's Christmas Holiday when everyone ate at a single table in the Great Hall - and Harry thought it had to be as it was before. Or was it?  
  
Entering the Great Hall, he saw that he was right. But there were less people inside than in the Christmas Holiday, the only ones who were sitting at a small table were Dumbledore, Hagrid and Filch.  
  
"Harry!" said Dumbledore, "Come and take a seat..."  
  
"How're yeh?" asked Hagrid.  
  
Filch seemed the only one who looked as he didn't notice Harry entering. Harry was sure that he did, but he wasn't interrested in it. Every student hated him, mainly because he hated them. In Harry's second year, he had found out that Filch was a squib -- a person born by two wizards but with no magical powers. Because of that, he didn't like children too much -- he was jealous because they had magic inside and he didn't.  
"I am bored," Harry answered Hagrid's question.  
  
"Bored? heh," Hagrid answered.  
  
"Yes, Hagrid. Bored," answered Harry, surprised himself by his words -- it was another strange thing happening lately. He started saying words he had never thought saying... and that was really strange -- not to forget that it was quite bad. What if he said something bad to Dumbledore?  
  
Dumbledore conjured some food on the table for Harry to eat. They stood in a complete silence, which was rarely broken by the light sounds created by the spoons and forks touching the golden plates. Harry was thinking of what he could do at Hogwarts, forgetting what brought him at the castle before the beginning of the term.  
  
After breakfast, he wanted to go to the library due to his boreness, but he saw something that made him go to living off memories again: he saw the Ravenclaw entrance to their common room. Besides of thinking about Cho, without wanting to, his mind went again to what happened the day when Cedric died. He wondered what Cho thought of Harry that day... was it something good or bad? Of course it was something bad -- how else could someone think of the person who caused her boyfirend die...  
Later, the last thing that he remembered was going back to the Gryffindor Common Room. But what did he do the whole day?  
  
He could barely remember what happened the last days. He felt that he was at Hogwarts for many days, but none of the things he had done at the castle came back to his mind. He had slept, but he didn't know how long. Again, he felt exactly like he did the first day back at Hogwarts - he wondered where he was and why he wasn't at the Dursleys. Then he remembered that he came with Dumbledore... because of a Death Eater who kept troubling him. But he couldn't remember anything else. But how could that be; the Death Eater who tried to erase Harry's memory couldn't come to Hogwarts... the castle was way too protected so there was no possibility that a Dark Wizard was in the castle after Harry...  
  
Going to the Great Hall, which was empty, was useless. He had just hoped he would see Dumbledore... then he decided to go and look for him. Out of the Great Hall, he went straight to the spiral staircase that lead to Dumbledore's office... and he found himself in front of the stone gargoyle once again, not knowing the password.  
  
Thinking about the passwords to the common rooms, he just hoped that it would work. "Move!" he said to the Gargoyle, and it jumped exactly the same way as it did when it was told the password.  
  
But Dumbledore wasn't in his office.  
The circular office was as usual. The pictures of the previous headmasters were still placed on the walls, and the sorting hat was waiting placed in a corner. Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, wasn't alone this time. Harry noticed that the phoenix owl was flying free in the room, carefully avoiding anything that he could damage.  
  
But even though Dumbledore wasn't there, Harry felt someone around... he didn't know how, he just felt it.  
  
He looked around and saw that there was no one inside. Thinking that it was just his imagination, he turned back to leave the room, thinking where Dumbledore could possibly be. But then --  
  
"Gradis Obliviate," someone could be heard whispering in the room. And suddenly, Harry felt, again, as he did not have any worry. His mind was partly erased again... but still he could remember some things. And he knew that he had this feeling before, at the Dursleys. Then, he remembered that someone was casting Memory Charms at him.  
  
He had nothing else to do than to run away -- his brain felt lighter without lots of worries pressing him. It was much easier to decide on something. And he just feared the only thing he could remember... the Memory Charms...  
  
He ran. Out of the office, down on the spiral moving staircase, upstairs, running randomly hoping that he would escape, hoping that the Death Eater lost him...  
  
And then, to his relief, he ran straight into Dumbledore. Before he could say anything, Harry started very quick:  
"Professor, Memory Charms..." He pointed to Dumbledore's office, "The Death Eater -- just met him... invisible --"  
  
"Calm down, Harry. While I am around, no one can hurt you. Follow me."  
  
They both went to Dumbledore's office. The pressure on Harry seemed to lighten, and suddenly he felt more normal... thoughts were coming back to his head. The only thing he didn't know was how many thoughts didn't return...  
  
Once they reached the office, Dumbledore started, "So, tell me, Harry. What happened?"  
  
"I have met the death eater who keeps casting memory charms on me. He was exactly in this room... I came here to tell you that after I woke up, my mind seemed lighter and I didn't know what happened the last days here. The memory charms started having an effect. And while I was looking for you, someone -- I think he was invisible -- cast a spell - something with Obliviate inside..."  
  
"Total Obliviate?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"No,"  
  
"Gradis Obliviate?" Dumbledore asked again.  
  
"Yes... I guess that was it..."  
  
"That spell is a very good one - the caster tries to erase your memory but not all at once. You forget only a few things everytime it is casted. The thoughts are chosen by the caster, or else they are randomly chosen by the spell. I guess the Death Eater must be very smart..."  
Dumbledore then paused and Harry had nothing to say.  
  
"I will try to do something to prevent these things from happening..." said Dumbledore, with a very serious voice. "Because, whoever the person is, he won't give up that easily now that he had come that far. And if he will manage to erase your memory, it won't be good... However, I doubt that he will try anything after Hogwarts will be full of students."  
  
Harry's mind just wandered around the words Dumbledore said to him, and after a time, he decided that Dumbledore was completely right, as he always was. But how could they keep Harry's memory intact until the other students came to Hogwarts?  
  
That question was answerd soon.  
  
"Go to your common room. I will try to cast some protective spells on the Gryffindor tower... be careful though. If you will go out of that room, it won't be good..." He paused and then stood up. "I hope I can cast that spell -- it needs many wizards to do it... well, you and Hagrid may help... Come, let's get Hagrid."  
  
They went to Hagrid's hut and Dumbledore explained the entire situation. Hagrid just nodded to Dumbledore and told him that he hoped he could do magic after being expelled fifty-three years ago.  
  
When they reached the common room, Dumbledore told Harry to enter becase he wouldn't be needing him. Harry wondered why, because only minutes ago Dumbledore said he couldn't do it by himself... but he had always trusted Dumbledore's words, so he did exactly as he was ordered. He pushed the painting with the Fat Lady open and stepped inside the quiet common room... the fire was still burning in the fireplace.  
  
The only thing that was haunting him was that a Death Eater was after him and at any time he could cast a spell to make Hary forget -- everything... He wondered if the protective spell Dumbledore wanted to use was of any effect. But, as usual, he trusted Dumbledore. He had to. He knew that Dumbledore couldn't do everything as he desired, thing that Harry, Ron and Hermione learned it at the end of their third year, when Dumbledore couldn't do anything to make Fudge understand that Sirius was innocent...  
  
He spent the entire day alone. Because Dumbledore said that it would be dangerous to leave the Gryffindor Tower, he decided to use his invisibility cloak so the death eater couldn't see him when he wanted so.  
  
It was evening, and his stomach was growling and asking for food. Harry remembered that he hadn't eaten anything for lunch, so he hasted to the Great Hall, wondering if the House Elves were the ones preparing food in the summer. And if they were, he just hoped that Hermione wouldn't find out. Harry knew that she was obsessed with house-elves, saying that they had to be paid.  
  
The Great Hall was as lit as everytime, even if there were only three, and with Harry, four, people inside. Harry went to the table and Dumbledore clapped his hands once, resulting in a plate full of tasty food being conjured in front of Harry.  
  
"Anything new?" asked Dumbledore.  
  
"Yes," said Harry. "My memory seems to be intact."  
  
"Good!" replied Dumbledore while looking at the bewitched ceiling which looked like the sky outside. "There are only four more days until the school starts."  
  
"Four?" asked Harry, wondering how it could be possible -- he thought there had to be five or six days until he would see the other schoolmates again. It had to be a previous memory charm that made him forget that.  
  
Days passed very slow. His fear of the invisible Death Eater that kept trying to modify his memory decreased, because the protection Dumbledore used worked very well. Harry went to the library to take a book, and, surprisingly, he took another book about the Dark Arts called "Dark Wizards and their spells". Even he didn't know what exactly made him take that book, he wanted to read something 'good' in the beginning...  
  
The days became as monotone as they were at the Dursleys. Harry found it a relief when he heard that there was only one more day until the Hogwarts Express would reach Hogwarts -- the only things he did the last days were reading, sleeping and eating. There was only one better thing than at the Dursleys. He could read any book from all the library -- even from the Restricted section.  
  
He finished reading the book he took about Dark Wizards, and went back to the library... He wondered how the books were looking like moved by an invisible person. And he didn't wonder that for long, because he saw it immediately --  
  
A book from a nearby shelf was slowly moving itself and without any noise. It was someone in an invisiblity cloak, Harry was sure -- and then he stood petrified, hoping to not make any noise... the Death Eater was near him...  
  
He hid the book under his invisibility cloak, and then Harry lost him. Forgetting why he came there in the first place, he started running to Dumbledore's office -- the headmaster had to know it, and Harry was the only person who knew about that.  
  
After exiting the library, he came back to his senses... and he knew that he had done a very big mistake. Running surely made a loud noise -- and the Death Eater now knew he was watched...  
  
Harry felt the fear that the Death Eater knew where he was, and soon after, he found out that he was right.  
  
"STUPEFY!" the Death Eater said quite loud. Harry was hit by the spell, and he fell to the floor...  
Harry knew he was unconscious for a quite long time. He just knew it, something told him... He was lying on a soft bed, eyes closed, and many voices were echoing through his ears, though he couldn't understand them.  
  
Only a question was in his mind: What happened? He only knew that he had been hit by a stunner. Then, he started understanding what the people around him were tlaking --  
  
"...not work, then what can save him?"  
  
"It will work. I wonder what kind of stunner did the attacker use."  
  
"A stupefy spell, of course."  
  
"Impossible. If it was a stupefy, we would have been able to revive him with the ennervate spell, but it didn't work!"  
  
"Then, we just have to wait and see... be patient, he will be back to normal."  
  
The only voice Harry recognized was Dumbledore's. He was the one who said the last sentence. Harry was partly back to normal, but still too weak to be able to do anything. As Dumbledore suggested, he just had to wait and see...  
  
But -- the ennervate spell didn't work?  
  
He woke up later, and his powers were back. He knew he had fallen asleep -- and it did him a lot of good. The first thing Harry did was to open his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the hospital wing around him. He had never seen it that empty; it was clear that the students weren't back yet.  
  
Madam Pomfrey was sitting at her office. That meant the teachers were back, so Harry wasn't in the danger he had been in before. He wanted to get up, and as soon as he moved, Madam Pomfrey rushed towards him --  
  
"Mr. Potter, I think it is not good if you try to stand up now --"  
  
"It's nothing. I'm feeling perfect."  
  
With that, he left the Hospital Wing, with Madam Pomfrey telling him that he should go back. But all he did was to ignore her. One thing came back to his mind -- the invisibility cloak. What happened to it? He was wearing it when the Death Eater casted the stupefy spell. What if the Death Eater took it?  
  
But then, remember that he still was in danger when walking on the corridors alone - the Death Eater could be anywhere... even with the entire staff back into the castle. Harry took his wand and started doing what Professor Moody told him - Constant Vigillance. He had to be aware of every sound around him, because the Death Eater had an invisibility cloak -- or maybe two.  
  
He then wondered where to go -- still the school was almost empty. The only person who he could go to was, of course, Dumbledore. He headed for the staircase that leaded to Dumbledore's office, and he saw that the Gargoyle still hadn't asked for a password. Dumbledore was in his office, and Harry's fear that Dumbledore could be gone was ended.  
  
"Harry! You woke up."  
  
"Yes, professor."  
  
"I guess you are the only one who can tell us what happened?"  
  
Harry started explaining everything. How he went to the library, how he saw the book moving... Then he proceeded to explain how he ran, maybe making quite loud noises. Even before Harry said that running wasn't a good thing running in that situation, Dumbledore told him that it wasn't the best choice.  
  
After Harry finished everything, Dumbledore started telling what he knew.  
  
"If it was a stupefy spell, it had to be a very strong one. All the teachers tried the ennervate spell on you at once and we weren't succesful to revive you." Dumbledore didn't have a face that told you that something was wrong, anyone could tell that he was quite happy. Harry knew that Dumbledore was always like that... but he never thought that in days like those he wasn't looking like he had any fear inside as the other people had... but, Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort ever feared.  
  
"Oh, one thing... when you found me, did you see my invisibility cloak?"  
  
Dumbledore's smile faded away. He opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped. Harry never saw him acting like that. It seemed the first time when Dumbledore didn't know exactly what to say.  
  
"No," Dumbledore said, "We didn't see it."  
  
Harry felt like the night when his parents died repeated in that moment. He had lost his most prized posession - the invisibility cloak which he inherited from his own father. His mind seemed to have only one word inscripted on it - 'Revenge'. He wanted to meet the Death Eater, and torture him until he gave him the cloak back. And Dumbledore seemed to read Harry's mind, and continued,  
  
"All we have to do is wait. The Death Eater will be very careful now that the teachers are back, and even more from this evening, when the Hogwarts Express arrives with the students. With one thousand people around him, he won't have the courage to do anything foolish. And that will make him even harder to find." He paused, before asking, "Anything else, Harry? Is there anything you want to tel me?"  
  
"Er --" There were more things, but he didn't know what to say. Should he tell him about Errol's death? Or about his trip to the burrow? He couldn't do as he did in his second year and ignore everything -- Dumbledore looked the only one who could solve the mystery. "Yes, there are a few things..."  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"When I was at the Dursleys..." Harry started, pausing a few moments to think, "My Uncle killed the Weasley Family Owl."  
  
"Oh, and did you pay them back?"  
  
"But when I went at the Burrow," Harry continued, ignoring Dumbledore's last words, "Errol was there, and Mrs. Weasley said that -- Errol didn't die... But how can that be? I even owled them telling that I was sorry and that I had to pay back, and they said they never recieved a letter..."  
  
Dumbledore looked at Fawkes, who slowly flew to him.  
  
"This is a strange thing," Dumbledore continued. "It may be the Death Eater's work... Memory Charms... Someone modified your memory. There are more advanced spells that can make you more than forget... And if planned and casted right, you will have no doubts that it really happened..."  
  
Harry looked at Dumbledore as he sopke. If that was true, that meant the Death Eater had to be very strong -- if he was able to cast spells like that. And that would have explained the trip to the Burrow, too. He didn't tell Dumbledore that, because it was quite obvious that it had to be the Memory Charms...  
  
After leaving Dumbledore's office, Harry started analysing the situation. As if it wasn't bad enough, he had to lose the invisibility cloak! What could he to without it? The Death Eater could see him at anytime... but then, Harry had to listen to Dumbledore. The Death Eater couldn't try to do anything to Harry with so many people around him, walking in the school at any time of the day.  
  
After he ate in the afternoon, he didn't go to the Common room. He walked with Hagrid to his hut, because the Hogwarts Express arrived in only a few hours. Harry had the same feeling as he had when he had to leave the Dursleys - seconds seemed minutes, even with Hagrid around. Both of them were quite quiet, no one had anything to say. Harry's fear for the Death Eater was back, and it was even stronger then before. Harry wondered where the Death Eater was at that moment. And he thought that if he was in the Death Eater's place, he would have attacked before the students arrived.  
  
And the Death Eater seemed to think just like Harry. Hagrid saw the door moving, and it was no one near it -- Harry was scared of losing his memory, and he hid himself in a corner. Too bad that he went exactly in the corner where the Death Eater was hiding in...  
  
"Gradis Obliviate," Harry heard someone whispering, and the next moment Harry jumped to his feet and a scream escaped him -- Hagrid turned back to see what happened and saw Harry whose terrified face was looking back at the corner where he had met the Death Eater. Not pausing to think, Harry took his wand and --  
  
"STUPEFY!" he yelled so loud that he thought even Dumbledore could hear from his office. The next moment Harry saw that something fell and hit the table in Hagrid's hut. "Gotcha!" Harry said and looked at the table with some very evil eyes.  
  
All the time, Hagrid stood silenced and watched everything that happened. He looked very confused, and Harry didn't blame him. He couldn't have known that the Death Eater was back, and he couldn't know what Harry was shooting at.  
  
Harry went very fast to the table, and he hit the invisible and unconscious Death Eater. "There you are!" he said, and took the invisibility cloak off him. He saw that it wasn't his dad's cloak, his evil grin fading away. He just told himself that he would find out from the Death Eater...  
  
He took another look at the unconscious Death Eater, and saw who he was. He had met him only once before - at the Little Hangleton's churchyard where Voldemort had reborn. All he knew was that his name was Avery. He had a look of terror on his face - Harry supposed that he had seen the Stupefy spell closing him.  
  
Harry turned to Hagrid, still quiet. None of them said a word, they were waiting for the other to start.  
"I think we will need a small quantity of the Veritaserum," Harry said after some minutes. "Or someone who knows the Cruciatus Curse." He just imagined himself performing the Cruciatus, and pointed his wand at the Death Eater. "Crucio," he said joking.  
  
But that had an effect as he had never thought -- a jet of light emitted from the top of his wand and hit Avery. The next moment, the Death Eater was rolling on the floor in pain, his face told Harry that if he hadn't lost his voice, he would be screaming loudly...  
  
Harry had just performed the Cruciatus Curse! He stopped the curse and cast Stupefy again to render Avery unconscious again, because the Cruciatus had woken him up. He was looking at his wand, and at Hagrid; he couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe the spell he had just casted. He never imagined that he could do that curse -- and he was just in fifth year...  
  
The Cruciatus!  
  
Hagrid still didn't say anything. He seemed stunned by Harry's performance, and he was waiting for Harry to continue.  
  
"We need to go and get Professor Dumbledore," said Harry while taking the Invisibility Cloak and hurrying out of the hut. The time until he reached Dumbledore's office seemed an eternity. And when he reached the Gargoyle, he saw Dumbledore teaching him the new password - 'Canary Creams'. He may have found out what the Weasley Twins were secretly creating.  
  
"Harry!" he said, and than he noticed that Harry had a very strange look on his face - a mixture between tryumph and fear. After all, he had just performed the Cruciatus Curse...  
  
"Professor, I have just met the Death Eater -- and it looks like he waits for us to talk to him," he said.  
  
"Where is he?"  
  
"Hagrid's hut."  
  
"What do you mean, he waits for us?"  
  
"Er... A stupefy spell managed to do it," said Harry thinking that the Triwizard Tournament did a lot of good - they learned some good new spells. "And... something very strange happened again."  
  
Dumbledore turned his head to Harry, still hurrying to Hagrid's hut.  
  
"I... cast the Cruciatus curse."  
  
That moment, Dumbledore stopped from running, his eyes looking at Harry. He had a look on his face that expressed both admiration, and worry.  
  
"Cruciatus?" he asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How did you manage it?"  
  
"I don't know... I was just saying Crucio, hoping that I would be able to do it... I was just kidding, and then I saw the curse hitting him..."  
  
"Come, we will talk about that later."  
  
They both hurried again towards the hut, and by the time they were there, Harry suggested that it was a good idea if they used a Veritaserum.  
  
Hagrid was still waiting in the hut, and Avery was still unconscious. "Ennervate!" Dumbledore said, and soon after, Avery started moving. "Stop!" came Dumbledore's voice again, pointing his wand at the Death Eater, and Harry saw the seriousness on Dumbledore's face that told him why he was called the strongest wizard of the time.  
  
Avery was looking at Harry and Dumbledore. He was very scared by the time he noticed that his invisibility cloak was in Harry's hands.  
  
"Where is MY cloak?" Harry asked noticing the silence. But Avery was as quiet as before, not saying a word. "WHERE IS IT?"  
  
"Harry, calm down!" said Dumbledore, but Harry felt like he couldn't calm himself. All he wanted was his dad's cloak back. "Harry!" Harry could see that Dumbledore's voice was almost sounding like the disappointed voice he rarely had, and Harry knew hearing that was worse than being shouted at. At last, he seemed to calm down a little. "Guard him!" Dumbledore ordered, while running out of the hut.  
  
"Want another Cruciatus casted on you?" Harry asked Avery, who still didn't say anything. "Tell me where my cloak is." But Avery still didn't move at all. "Well, you asked for it! Crucio!"  
  
But it had no effect. "CRUCIO!" he said again, but still nothing happened. "Tell me where the cloak is..."  
  
Avery stood as quiet as he was when he was stunned, and that was making Harry quite angry. And why couldn't he do the Cruciatus anymore?  
  
Dumbledore returned with a Veritaserum potion, which Harry knew by then. Avery didn't want to drink it, but a small quantity fell on his mouth, and down his neck. They could see its effects; Harry knew those, too, because he saw a Veritaserum in use just two months ago.  
  
"Tell us," Dumbledore started, "Who sent you here and why?"  
  
"My Lord and his second in command," he started in a very monotone voice, "sent me to erase Harry Potter's memory. But they told me not to do it all at once, they told me to erase thought by thought until everything would be gone, so he couldn't realize what I was doing..."  
  
"Who is the second in command?"  
  
"My Lord was very wise when he chose Mr --" but he couldn't say more. It looked like something hurt him. He only let a small pain sound, and then his entire body fell to the ground.  
  
Harry, Dumbledore and Hagrid stood there looking around to see what killed Avery. But Harry didn't need to know that, because one thing was sure. It was another Death Eater, who stopped him from giving away very important information. And then Harry was reminded of his invisibility cloak -- if Avery was dead, how would he find out where the cloak was?  
  
It didn't matter that he had Avery's. The only thing he wanted was to have his dad's cloak back -- nothing could be as comforting as that. He prized the things he had inherited from his parents the most -- and the Cloak was the only one, if he wouldn't consider the Marauder's Map.  
  
"Well, he is gone," said Dumbledore with his serious voice.  
  
"No..." Harry spit out without wanting to. "My dad's cloak is gone..."  
  
"Harry, we will find it. Only confide in yourself. Now I think it is time I should get prepared -- soon the Hogwarts Express is about to arrive... Sorry, but I have no time to talk now. Hagrid, you should get prepared too."  
  
Dumbledore went out of the hut. Harry and Hagrid were staring at each other. "I think he is right," said Hagrid. "I should prepare for the students to come -- but there are not many things to be done... you know that my job is to lead the first years... What are you going to do, Harry?"  
  
Harry sat and thought for a little -- what would he want to do -- surely, the thing he wanted to do was to go and meet his friends -- he didn't see them for a long time -- especially Hermione... and his memory slowly went to Cho, but he forgot her when Hagrid went out of the hut and took him, saying, "Let's go." 


	6. Giant Problems

Chapter 6: Giant Problems  
  
Harry and Hagrid went to the Hogsmeade Train Station, and from there Hagrid went to the Three Broomsticks. It was just one hour left until the Hogwarts Express had to arrive - and Harry decided that he wanted to wait for it in the station. He looked at the rail in the distance, and saw nothing except woods and the sky. There was no sign fo the Hogwarts Express, a thing which was obvious.  
  
But he got used to waiting by then. two months with the dursleys, and one week at Hogwarts with no friends around him made the one hour pass very fast.  
  
Ten minutes to six, Hagrid was back at the station. Harry could hear it -- something was moving very fast in the distance, and he knew that it was the train which he couldn't wait to arrive. All of his friends were inside... he would get very soon to meet them...  
  
"Hagrid..." Harry asked, "Was that Death Eater, by any chance, staying in your hut the entire week?"  
  
"Course not. D'yeh think that he could've bin hidin' there all the week? With me in that hut?"  
  
"Er, right," said Harry. He was thinking that it may have been possible that Avery hid in Hagrid's hut, because no one could have known... He only wanted to attack Harry, no one else...  
  
Harry was listening to the noise that could be heard in the distance. And after a few minutes, he saw it. The scarlet steam engine was closing the station...  
  
It was approaching their position, and when it was in the station, the train stopped. The doors suddenly opened, some of them with loud bangs, and then a crowd of students got out of the long train. Harry looked around for Ron, Hermione, and, secretly, for Cho.  
  
The first one who he saw was Hermione, who had already spotted him and was waving her hands hoping that Harry would notice her. And, finally, he did. "Harry!"  
  
"Heya, Harry!" said another voice, which was Fred's. Soon, the entire crowd was near him, walking slow to the castle.  
  
Ron and Hermione looked at each other, greeted and then came to the group which was formed of Harry, Fred, George, Seamus, Dean and Neville Longbottom, who was a forgetful and round-faced boy in Gryffindor with very small capabilities at magic.  
  
They slowly walked to the castle and most of them were talking about their holidays. Everyone seemd to have a good holiday, except Harry who had to stay at the Dursleys in a very limited kind of living.  
"My grandmother explained me a few things to know when doing spells," said Neville, "and I think it was a very good idea - I could do the Wingardium Leviosa spell in the first try..."  
  
"I have won several galleons by selling a few drawings of mine," Dean Thomas continued. "You know, I am quite good at drawing... It was a great holiday. Once I asked for permission to cast some spells in a place where Muggles never came, and they allowed me. You should have seen those spells I've done! We didn't learn them at school..."  
  
Harry felt happier than before, though not as he wanted to be in the first school day. He started talking about the Quidditch match, and about the excellent Vasile Feint the Romanians did.  
  
"You should do it, too," said Ron to Harry.  
  
"No we won't be able to do it, now that they have all seen the match..."  
  
"Then try the Wronski Feint!"  
  
"A better idea."  
  
Hermione was asked why she didn't come to the Quidditch game. Ron seemed to not like that she didn't come, Harry wondered why.  
  
"Oh, I wanted to go but, you know, exactly at that time I had to go to my Muggle Uncle. I couldn't not go..."  
  
"Harry," asked Ron, "Who d'you reckon that will be the Keeper this year?"  
  
"Dunno," Harry asnwered, but then thinking a little, continued, "But I wonder who will be the captain... I just hope that it won't be me."  
  
But, against Harry's will, he had no other alternative. Who would he want to be captain? Fred? George? They weren't able of doing a lot of things a captain would -- it just wasn't their type. And the three chaser girls didn't look like team captains either. So he had no other alternative than to accept to be the captain... but was he any better than Fred or George?  
  
Harry looked at the lake and saw the horseless carriages float with the first years towards the huge, mighty Hogwarts castle, which Harry considered his true home. That was the place where enjoyed life as much as possible, of course except of the times Malfoy was annoying him.  
  
They all went to the Great Hall. It was a relief of being there in a normal way -- twice in his life he hadn't seen the sorticg ceremony. Once was in his second year, when Dobby the house-elf blocked the secret passage on platform nine and three quarters so Harry couldn't go to Hogwarts. He and Ron decided to fly to the castle with Mr. Weasley's bewitched car, and when they were at Hogwarts they crashed into the Whomping Willow. They had missed the sorting because of that. And the second time was in his third year. He was affected by a dementor and needed to go to the Hospital Wing to eat some chocolate which made him feel better again. That was the second time when he missed the sorting.  
  
Everyone stood at their long house tables, looking at the first-years that already lined up to be sorted. All of them looked at the great hall quite astounded, and Harry remembered that the first time he went to Hogwarts, he was just like them. Professor Mcgonagall had a parchment with the names of the first years on it.  
  
They slowly walked to the three-legged stool where the hat was placed.  
  
"When I call your names," Professor McGonagall started, "you will try the hat and you will be sorted into your houses."  
  
Everyone was quiet, except one person: Ron.  
  
"Come on, be faster!" he said, "My stomach is growling --"  
  
"Ron, just be patient," Hermione told him with a bossy voice, "The sorting is important..."  
  
"Yea, yea..." said Ron in a dully voice.  
  
Then the attention was attracted by Professor Mcgonagall who started the sorting.  
  
"Fawcett, Bryan!"  
  
A small first year walked slowly to the sorting hat. His nerousness could be read on his face very easy. Professor McGonagall took the sorting hat and put it carefully on the student's head, before it shouted loudly so everyone could hear,  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
"Baddock, Fred!"  
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
The sorting continued. The silence was disturbed again by Ron, who was continuously asking for food. Even though everyone was ignoring him, he didn't stop and disturbed them until Nearly-Headless Nick told him that Dumbledore couldn't be pleased if a student stopped others from listening to the sorting.  
  
Harry wanted it to end, too; he had to tell Ron and Hermione about those unusual things that happened in the holiday. Everything starting with the Memory Charms, Avery, Errol's death which had to be the result of a Memory Charm, and then his stunningly performance at the Cruciatus Curse. It looked as painful as Voldemort's one.  
  
It looked like the sorting ceremony was longer than usual only to make Ron and Harry as anxious as possible for it to end. There were more new students than Harry saw the previous years, and when it was over, Ron spit out a loud "AT LAST!"  
  
But his enjoyment didn't last for long. Dumbledore wanted to give a speech before the Start of Term Feast started.  
  
"Welcome," he said, while standing on his feet, "to another year at Hogwarts!"  
  
"These are some very dark times," he said in a more serious voice than his usual, "because, as you already should know, Lord Voldemort had risen again, and even at these moments he is walking free throughout the world."  
  
Almost every student in the hall flinched when Dumbledore said Voldemort's name. Everyone called him you-know-who or he-who-must-not-be-named, thing that annoyed Harry a lot. He wanted to teach Ron and Hermione to say his proper name, too, but the chance of accomplishing it was very low.  
  
"But fear not," Dumbledore continued, "because at Hogwarts you are completely safe. The castle and its grounds have many protections, helping us against the Dark Lord very much. Everyone had been working hard to keep the safety high in this castle and its surroundings. "The first years, and a few older students too, need to remember that the Dark Forest out of the school is completely forbidden, and anyone who breaks this rule has to be punished."  
  
His speech seemed over, and before he sat on the chair, the only two words he said were, "Dig in."  
  
The Feast was uneventful compared to the last few days. Harry's relief was that the Death Eater was caught and no one was trying to erase Harry's memory -- at least that was what he had hoped.  
  
On their way to the Gryffindor tower, Hermione called Harry and Ron; she wanted to tell them something.  
  
"I have been made a prefect," she said looking at Harry and Ron who didn't look surprised at all.  
  
"Wasn't it obvious?" asked Ron. "Top grades... who else could be a prefect except for you?"  
  
"Right," she said a little annoyed.  
  
As they walked to the gryffindor Tower, Harry was only thinking of how to start telling Ron and Hermione everything -- and telling it was a long story. But, fortunately, he didn't have to start because Ron had done it before.  
  
"Harry," he asked just before they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, "Why did you have to come to Hogwarts before the term started?"  
  
"Oh, it is a looong story..." Harry answered looking at the Fat Lady who was eyeing them.  
  
"Password?" she asked.  
  
"Avery," said Hermione before the portrait swung open allowing the students to enter the warm common room. When Harry heard the new password, he almost jumped.  
  
"What's wrong?" Ron asked him before he could say anything.  
  
"Everything has a connection with this name," Harry continued, wondering how would he say it once he started with the end. "A Death Eater was keeping casting memory charms on me, wanting to make me forget everything. I even got an Underage Wizardry Warning... Dumbledore came to take me to Hogwarts. Here I had the same problems -- I was suddenly forgetting things, and Dumbledore placed a spell on the Gryffindor Tower to protect it. I don't know what he did, though. I wasn't supposed to leave the tower without the invisibility cloak." Harry felt his mood turning worse as he said those words - 'invisibility cloak'. He explained the accident where he had lost his invisility cloak, and he couldn't stop some tears falling from his wet eyes.  
  
"You have lost your invisibility cloak?" asked Ron, horror-struck. Hermione didn't seem to look better either.  
  
Harry's answer was a nod, and then he continued, "I have met this Death Eater today in Hagrid's hut... Found out who he was. I have only seen him once -- at the Little Hangleton Churchyard, you know, that graveyard where I was transported when I touched the cup last year -- his name was Avery. he had an invisibility cloak, too, and I have his, but my dad's was lost... Avery died while we tried a Veritaserum on him -- looks like someone killed him before telling us important nformation."  
  
"You MET him?" asked Hermione, who wasn't looking her usual self.  
  
"Yes... Made him unconscious by a good stupefy spell... That triwizard tournament did a good to me... Oh, and one more thing about this..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I -- I don't know why, but I... I casted a Cruciatus Curse on Avery." Both Ron and Hermione looked at Harry a very surprised look.  
  
"How?" Hermione asked. "We are only in out fifth year..."  
  
"It's not as a big surprise after all those strange things that happened lately. Maybe it didn't happen and was just a memory charm... though I don't think so. Dumbledore and Hagrid are worried about all these things, including this Crcuiatus I've done... Dumbledore was looking at me in a very strange way. I could tell that he was worried about it... and he has to have a good reason to believe something..."  
  
They looked at each other for a few minutes, lots for words. Everything looked worse than before when Harry saw Ron's and Hermione's panicked expressions. Even though the Death Eater was killed, Harry knew that it couldn't actually be the end, he knew that the Death Eaters would't give up like that. And his Crucio was as haunting as it was unexpected. It could have been done by someone else, not by him, but through his body... if that was possible.  
  
"Listen," Hermione broke the silence, "We need to go and get some sleep..."  
  
"A good idea," Ron continued, "Indeed."  
And then they did what Hermione suggested. She went to the girls' dormitory, and Harry with Ron walked up the stairs until they reached their own bedroom. Neville, Dean and Seamus were already there.  
  
"So, the new year had started," Seamus told them.  
  
"Yes," Harry took the turn to speak, "And I wonder if I'll get out of this alive."  
  
"Oh don't be that pessimistic," said Ron who was looking at Harry with a Hermione-like dont-joke-about-things-like-that face.  
  
"Good night," said Harry lazily and sitting on his four-poster. He pulled the curtains and heard some good nights from the other roommates. This had to be a very eventful year, with Voldemort back to power and his Death Eaters back...  
The next day, the fifth year Gryffindors woke up a bit later than they should have. Harry knew that he fell asleep very late the previous day, with all of the things that happened and trying to guess what would happen next, and that was what he blamed for getting up that late.  
  
They set off to the Great Hall. It looked much emptier than they were used for it to be: last year there were twenty-five more students in the school because of the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students who came for the TriWizard Tournament. The first person who talked to them was Hermione.  
  
"Why are you so late? Come on, McGonagall is going to give us the schedules!"  
  
They sat at the table and ate a little food in the time they had until McGonagall came to the table. "School schedules!" she said, and Hermione was eager to see their classes. Harry and Ron took one, too.  
  
"Today it is saturday," Ron told his friends, "So we won't start school until Monday..."  
  
"The first class we have is... double Potions!" said Ron angrily. "Oh couldn't they allow us to have a nice first day?"  
  
"Shut up, Ron," said Harry, seeing that Snape was eyeing them suspiciously. "Snape is watching us."  
  
They stod quiet for a little time and then Ron continued, "Wonder what he's up to this year..."  
  
"Let's continue eating," said Harry, "I see that the breakfast isn't over."  
  
Hermione looked at him with an annoyed face, but then she came back to normal and did what the other two did. Harry wasn't very hungry, and instead of eating he was looking at the staff table. There as a new person in the seats, and Harry saw that the new teacher was an old lady. At first he thought he was having hallucinations. He knew the old lady, even though he hadn't seen her for a quite long time. She was Mrs. Figg, who he used to go to when the Dursleys were leaving the house and didn't want to take Harry with them. But what was she doing at Hogwarts?  
  
He didn't wonder for too long because he was distracted by something else. He saw Cho, who was quite happy, talking to her friends. He looked back to his food when one of her friends caught eye contact with him. After that, he had just seen them laugh a little.  
  
They spent their first two free days the best they could, while Fred and George were telling the fellow Gryffindors about some things they invented -- it looked like the damage their mother had done didn't stop their plans for a joke shop.  
  
Monday, they woke up, not that cheery as they were the prevoius days, because they couldn't just spend their entire day on doing something fun. The only one who seemed to be waiting for the start of the term was Hermione.  
  
"Oh," Ron told Harry, "I forgot that the first class we have is double Potions!"  
  
"Yea... anyway let's go until Snape will take us fifty points for being late."  
  
The trip to the dungeons was uneventful. Hermione was keeping telling them to go faster because they could be late, but all Ron and Harry did was to ignore her.  
  
The slytherins were already there, and as Harry entered, Malfoy shouted, "Obliviate" but with no wand. He looked like he didn't want to cast a memory charm, he just wanted to scare Harry, he had surely found out about what happened in the summer. Of course, his father was a Death Eater, so Malfoy had a good source to find out about Voldemort's actions.  
  
"I see your hair had re-grown, Malfoy, hasn't it?" Harry told him trying to not remember what happened the last time they met -- in the Diagon Alley. The gryffindors started laughing, and the slytherins tunrned back. And Harry had seen why -- Professor Snape had just entered the dungeon.  
  
"Now what can make all the gryffindors laugh like this?" Snape asked in his usual cold voice. "Five points from each of you, and that means, fifty points are taken from Gryffindor."  
  
Harry could barely control himself. He was ready to stand up and shout to Snape about being unfair, but Ron and Hermione already noticed that and held him.  
  
"We're doing Warmth Potions today. I hope you won't have problems with this one, because if one thing goes wrong, its effect may be... destructive. Does anybody know what can happen if the potion is done wrong?"  
  
Hermione's hand raised in midair, but Snape seemed to ignore it. "No one?"  
  
Then it was too much for Harry. "Professor, don't you see that Hermione --"  
  
"Thirty more points from Gryffndor, Potter! Know to not disturb me because next time it will be fifty."  
  
Harry managed to control himself, before losing another fifty points -- they had already lost eighty, and making it one hundred and thirty in only one class was too much. He wondered if a house had ever had minus eighty points. He couldn't remember seeing a house having a negative number of points, but everything had a first didn't it?  
  
Later in the class, Harry was upset to see that Snape gave the slytherins thirty points for making the potion correctly. Harry was ready to jump again, because Hermione had done the potion, too, but he didn't give her any point. Maybe Snape was too angry when Neville's potion blew up, covering a part of the floor with a yellow acid that burned a few holes into the floor.  
The next class they had was Care of Magical Creatures, which, they hoped, was a lot better than the terrible Double Potions with Snape. That was true if Hagrid didn't bring another evil and dangerous creature for them to study.  
  
Hagrid was waiting for them in front of his hut. The slytherins came at the same time the Gryffindors did, and Malfoy was talking to Crabbe and Goyle about their parents. Harry knew they were all Death Eaters, but Malfoy didn't speak about that. He had met them two months before, at the graveyard...  
  
"The firs' creatures we'll study are owls," Hagrid announced at the beginning of the class.  
  
All of the students looked at Hagrid as if he was kidding. Harry was wondering what Hagrid could tell them about owls, and sided with the other stdents.  
  
"What, d'yeh think i'm jokin? No I'm not, 'coz there're lots o' things you don't know about em."  
  
"And that will be?" asked Malfoy looking bossy.  
  
"We'll teach 'em how to bite you, Malfoy." Malfoy turned back, while some Gryffindors started laughing -- there was no Professor Snape around this time.  
  
Then Hagrid started his lesson about owls, which turned out to be very interresting. He told them more about the Phoenix owls, creatures that resulted by taking an owl egg and hatch it under a phoenix. Dumbledore's phoenix owl was assisting the class, and Hagrid showed the students more things about it. The owl had both the owl's and phoenix's qualities, being very good at post and as a pet, too. Its tears could even heal, though not as good as the Phoenix ones could.  
  
After the class, they had launch, but before they went to the Great Hall they wanted to speak to Hagrid.  
  
"Harry told us that lots of unusual things happened in the summer here," Hermione told him when they entered the hut.  
  
"'bout Avery? Yes there were... an' those aren' the on'y unusual ones that happened here."  
  
"WHAT?" Harry asked trying to hide his worries that Voldemort will actually win after all.  
  
"Yeah, giant problems. Yeh know that las' year they said I will have ter do a very importan' job? Well we had to contact the giants befor' Yeh-know-who did."  
  
"And what was unusual?"  
  
"We couldn't. They said He had already took 'em. Even my mother was there..." Hagrid started to feel sad. "She almos' killed me, she did. Me and Madame Maxime were tryin ter do a good job, but all we did was to make them be even worse..."  
  
"That's a giant problem," said Ron. "A Huge one."  
  
"An' I fear that we'll soon see em... That Fudge, it was because of him... I saw him, an' he told me that the giants were evil an' that I had no right to take em... Minister of Magic or not, I hate him... Oh, one more thing about Fudge. He did not want to remove the dementors from Azkaban... and You-Know-Who did it... he took them as well..."  
  
Harry clapped his hands to his mouth. They all stood silenced, until Harry hardly managed to speak.  
  
"We have got to eat, Hagrid. Bye," said Harry before getting out of the hut and hurrying to the Great Hall.  
  
Harry's fears were even worse than before. Besides thinking that a Death Eater may turn up and try to attack him, there were the giants and the demoentors -- who were making Harry feel bad only when thinking about them. Harry remembered what Dumbledore said last year -- that the giants and the dementors will join Voldemort as he asked them...  
  
As for the Cruciatus, he would just wait and see if it was a good or bad thing. 


	7. Quidditch

Chapter 7: Quidditch  
  
The next day, he started to feel quite strange; everytime he saw Cho he felt an urge of talking to her, and something stopping him from doing it at the same time. He just hoped that he would do something about it soon. That only did one good thing: he didn't worry as much as he did before about other things.  
  
One day he remembered about the offer of John Niffler, about the Engalnd's national Quidditch team. He thought that he should accept, because if everything was at Hogwarts, he had nothing to lose. He told Ron and Hermione about it, and their reaction was just as he expected.  
  
"Quidditch?" asked Hermione, who didn't like the idea at all. "We have OWLs this year! When are you going to study them if you will spend time with Quidditch?"  
  
"Hermione," Ron immediately defended Harry, "He will have Quidditch anyway! The Inter-House championship --"  
  
"Yes, but not for a national team! That would need practice -- a lot more practice than the normal Quidditch games need for the Inter-House Cup!"  
  
"And the OWLs are at the end of term! We have ages --"  
  
"And ages we need," Hermione said out of her usual self. She said in a tone that wasn't her usual type. It only brought a strange feeling to Harry that something bad was happening to Hermione, too.  
  
Hermione didn't give up even when she saw that Harry wanted to go. She still found lots of things to say -- but she couldn't do anything. Harry himself wanted so much to play like that... Except for one thing.  
  
Harry always hated being famous -- and that would make him attract even more attention than usual. And with that, Ron would be even more jealous towards him -- as he usually was these days. Harry would have wanted to change at anytime if possible.  
  
That night, after he managed to remain alone, he took a piece of parchment to write the letter. He needed no one to disturb him while thinking what to write to John Niffler. The only thing he didn't like was that he was too bored and sleepy, and it could affect his thoughts. And then he wrote:  
  
I'd love to play for the England's Quidditch Team. I heard that everything's done at Hogwarts. If that is true, I'll be able to play; I won't want to lose any classes because of Quidditch. When will the practices start?  
  
Can't wait to read the answer,  
Harry Potter  
  
After that he decided to go back to the Gryffindor tower, to get a good night's sleep.  
And he didn't have to wait for long until he recieved the reply. After a lesson of Charms where he didn't think of anything else except the letter, he went to the Great Hall where the mail arrived while they were eating. He saw that Hedwig returned with a silvery letter. Harry took it and watched closely -- he was sure that the letter had to cost a lot. The writing on the letter was done with silver letters, and Harry saw that it really was silver not a silvery substance. It said,  
  
To Mr. Harry Potter  
  
Hogwarts  
  
He opened the letter and took the small piece of parchment inside - this time it wasn't as expensive as the inscription on the letter was. And Harry couldn't wait to read Niffler's answer...  
Dear Mr. Potter,  
  
I am pleased to hear that you accepted my request for the Quidditch Team. The practices are done at Hogwarts, only for safety reasons, so you won't lose anything from school -- except those times when we have to take you from a lesson for a Match. We will start the practices as early as possible and the team will arrive in only a few days.  
  
See you very soon,  
John Niffler  
As Ron saw the letter, he had burst out in happiness, jumping on his seat and keeping telling to Harry, "You got it! You are playing for England!" and, from that moment, in a few seconds, the entire school knew that. The only ones who weren't pleased at all because were the slytherins -- especially Malfoy.  
"Potter? Playing for the National English Quidditch Team?" he asked with a superior voice.  
  
"Well, better him than you!" said Ron still cheery. Malfoy sat on his chair and didn't look at Harry for the entire day. He seemed to not have anything to say -- he couldn't find any insults for Harry this time.  
  
At the end of the day, they all held a grand celebration that lasted long past midnight. Fred and George brought lots of sweets from Hogsmeade, and Harry knew they must have been using the secret passage that lead to Honeydukes. And, to add fun, they presented everyone some of their latest inventions.  
  
"See this?" Fred asked, with a grin on his mouth, "It's a pity that we have no Malfoy here to test it on." He raised a small, round piece of chocolate, and showed it to everyone. Harry and Ron saw that Hermione was quite interrested in the newest inventions, and that was quite out of her usual self. "George, would you make a sacrifice and test it on yourself?"  
George stared at Fred, and that was the best answer George could give him. "Well, anyone? Then I'll have to try it on myself -- well I am already used to their effects anyway..."  
  
He took the chocolate and hesitantly ate it. And Harry saw that it was quite nothing new, it was just their type of using different curses or jinxes on sweets. Everything that he had seen were boils on his body -- the same as a Furnunculus curse, but much weaker -- weaker than he had seen it, anyway.  
  
He told George to give him something, and then he ate it. His skin became normal -- it had to be the counter-curse. Or, better said, counter-chocolate. Then, he continued his speech.  
  
"This is nothing if you only eat it. But as we have discovered only two months ago -" he winked at Harry, Ron and Hermione, "- they are best used in combinations, for unexpected effects."  
  
Harry quickly recalled the moment when Malfoy was hit by five curses at once and it rendered him unconscious. Harry's mind immediately pictured Malfoy eating some of those trick sweets in the Great Hall, where everyone could see him... and his ashamed face while he would get up and go to the Slytherin Common Room or the Hospital Wing...  
  
It was one of the first times when Harry enjoyed the attention -- maybe because his name wasn't spoken continuously by everyone. Even if the celebration was held because of him, the entire attention was placed on Fred and George, and Harry was thankful.  
  
They all went to bed after three o'clock, wondering if they could wake up in the morning for next day's lessons.  
The first class they had was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Harry was reminded of Mrs. Figg, who he couldn't ever compare to a witch. When the Dursleys sent him to her house, she was forcing him to look at pictures of her cats, and her house smelled like cabbage. Except for those few things, Harry was quite well-treated at her house. She was allowing him to watch TV, she was giving him cakes to eat... after all, it wasn't unbelievable.  
  
And she had to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher... who else could it be? There was no one new except her at the staff table.  
  
When they entered the classroom, she wasn't there yet. The Gryffindors were waiting anxiously to see how her lessons were, and what they would learn. When she entered, the entire class turned quiet. Harry saw that she was looking at him while she was walking to her desk.  
  
"Good morning," was the first thing she said, "I am Arabella Figg, and I will teach you Defense Against the Dark Arts this year."  
  
"Only this year?" Ron asked in Harry's ear, but she heard it.  
  
"Yes, Mr. Weasley, Only this year. I am here to teach you about dark arts and how to protect against them. I have been working to deal with Dark Arts for a long time, and when I was informed that you weren't briefed too much about them I wondered if you shouldn't have known how to deal with Dark Wizards, especially now that Voldemort is back."  
  
Harry listened carefully and noticed that everyone flinched. It reminded him that most people didn't say Voldemort's name, and it came surprisingly that Mrs. Figg wsan't one of those who were only afraid of a name -- aftre all, Dumbledore was right. The fear of the name increased the fear of the person itself.  
  
"The first lesson will be only an introduction," she briefed them before telling them to open their copies of "Dark Forces: Counter-curses" at page 1. Harry looked around, and saw that most of the things were covered in the first chapter of the Dark Book of Dark Arts. But even though the first lesson seemed boring, the further ones seemed as interresting as Moody's and Lupin's classes were.  
  
After talking about why the Dark Arts were used that much by Death Eaters, which were only known things from the Dark Book, she told the students that they were easy to do but they required something special in the caster -- a desire to do evil things. Harry was sure that it wasn't very good to allow the Slytherins take classes like that, but he had nothing to tell anyone -- especially a teacher. But he supposed that even the teachers knew that.  
  
At the end of the lesson, before allowing the students to go out, she told them more about what they will do. "I won't teach you how to use the Dark Arts, and I am sure that you won't need them. The only thing you need to know is how to defend against them in case that some Death Eater is hunting you. Because we here do not teach you how to attack anyone, to become murderers; we are here to teach you how to NOT become like that. So the thing you need most is how to defend yourselves. As I said earlier, using the Dark Arts only makes a person become evil -- and would any of you, who are in Gryffindor, want that?"  
  
Harry noticed that she didn't seem to like the slytherins too much either.  
  
They all left the classroom. Even if the lesson was mostly about history, and there was no practice, the class was great. Most of the students knew almost nothing from all what she told them, and even Harry, who already knew everything from the Dark Book of Dark Arts, seemed to enjoy the lesson. Harry couldn't not notice that Mrs. Figg smiled at him when he exited the classroom, and he knew it was a friendly, we-meet-again smile.  
  
At the evening, Harry was surprised to see someone enter the Gryffindor Tower while Harry was playing some chess with Fred, who was unsuccesfully cheating. Harry looked at the person, and he was accompanied by Dumbledore.  
  
"Harry!" he shouted in the noise, calling him. "You've got company!"  
  
Harry immediately realized who the person had to be -- he was none other than John Niffler. He had turned his back to Fred ("Harry! Don't leave me like that, I could've beaten you!") and ran to Dumbledore and Niffler.  
  
"I am John Niffler, Harry. Nice to meet you."  
  
"Good evening," Harry replied without knowing what else to say.  
  
"We should go to the Quidditch Pitch... I will show you who the other team members are, and because it isn't dark yet, I'll want to watch him do some things on his broom -- I heard you have already got a Firebolt?" he asked, anxious to see Harry in the air.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, then, Come!"  
  
Harry followed. Dumbledore walked with them all the way, and the news seemed to spread very fast throughout the school. There were lots of students who were cheering Harry(but even he didn't know why, because he wasn't playing yet). From all those students, only one attracted his attention. Cho.  
  
He was looking at her, she seemed quite anxious to come and see what would happen -- everyone was, but Harry only cared for her -- and then, Dumbledore, as if he knew what Harry was thinking about, spoke.  
  
"Miss Chang, I am sure you may like to come to see this evening's practice," he said. Cho turned red, and she nodded to Dumbledore.  
  
Harry felt something in his stomach, and, hoping that he didn't blush, he wanted to say something; he didn't know what exactly, so he stood silenced. Fortunately, by the look on the other's faces, he didn't blush at all, and he was thankful.  
  
More students were trying to come with them, But Harry(and Dumledore) didn't allow them; after all, not everyone was Cho.  
  
Dumbledore left them at the castle gates. From there, the only ones who were walking were Niffler, Harry and Cho.  
  
"Y - You are a great Quidditch Player," Cho told him.  
  
"I never knew that it will reach as far as this," Harry answered sincerely.  
  
"I saw you playing... I even played against you," Cho continued still walking. "I think you will do a lot of practice for the world cup..."  
  
Harry didn't think at that before. The world cup...  
  
"I - I bet that no other seeker at Hogwarts will be able to be even half as good as you."  
  
Harry didn't say anything at that. He felt very good while talking to Cho, especially about Quidditch, and they kept talking about possible moves that he had to practice, until they reached the pitch, where the other players were waiting to meet Harry.  
  
"This is Harry," Hiffer told the other team members just when they set foot on the Quidditch Pitch. "I know that he is a better seeker than our previous one, because I've seen him flying... and we'll see him today as well."  
  
Harry wondered if it was that easy for him to do as needed to please everyone. Even if it was, it didn't look easy at all, and he had nothing to do then wait and see what exactly the team was expecting from him. He just wanted to do his best... to impress them with his skills...  
  
Harry wondered why he thought about that, because it was out of his usual usual type. Harry just ignored it.  
  
"And, Harry, if you are in our team, you would be sure that you'll be the Gryffindor captain."  
  
"Me?" Harry asked. "I ... I have no idea what to do as a captain!"  
  
"Oh come on, Harry! You have been to three cups already... you only could take the example of Oliver Wood, who will be playing in our team, too, but only next year -- when our keeper, Lusk, will leave."  
  
"I won't be able to do it," Harry continued speaking quite afraid of doing a thing like that,  
  
Cho wanted to say something for some time, and after all, she spit it out, "If you aren't a good captain, then no one is." He had rarely talked to Cho, actually it was the second time he ever did it. But he didn't know how he would feel when doing it...  
  
That shut his mouth, and from then he had just kept for himself evverything. At that moment, all he had to do was to fly a little to show the team what he could do -- or maybe more things than just fly?  
  
"Well, for this evening, I don't want you to do many things. Just... have you got your broom?"  
  
"It's in my dormitory." But he knew what to do; he just had to repeat what he did in his first task of the Triwizard Tournament. "But it's not a problem. Accio Firebolt!" he said raising his wand in the air, and concentrating on the Firebolt and its possible location -- but nothing came. "Accio Firebolt!" he said, this time louder. But still, this had no effect. Was it something only from his mind? Was the firebolt somewhere else than where he thought it was? Was he weaker? Or, maybe, he was just too tired to do a complicated spell like that? "One more try," he said, and then he shouted, "ACCIO FIREBOLT!"  
  
After a few seconds, he saw the firebolt zooming to him from a window in the Gryffindor Tower. The other team members were looking at Harry with a vrey amazed face, and it gave Harry a strange feeling.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked.  
  
"Well... how could you do that?" a team member asked.  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Bring the firebolt from that far!"  
  
"What's miraculous in this?" Harry asked, "I've done this before -- and even easier... on the first try..."  
  
"I am sure that only very skilled wizards would be able to summon something from that far... I wonder if I am able to do something like it." He looked at the others, who nodded.  
  
"Oh, forget it!" Harry told them, and he mounted his firebolt. "What do I have to do?"  
  
"Er... I haven't thought of this," Niffler told him, "But I would try you in catching the Snitch... especially now, that it is dark --"  
  
"Are you mad? Catch the Snitch on the dark?" Harry asked surprised.  
  
"Well, others have done it before... If you won't cath it, you'll do the Accio Snitch spell before anyone --"  
  
"It's not possible," Harry told them dully. "At least I knew where the Firebolt was. But, summon a Snitch that could be anywhere --"  
  
"Not anywhere, Harry. It's on the field, and I am sure that anyone could do it. Even I can."  
  
"Oh, ok," Harry answered quite annoyed, "Release the Snitch."  
  
Niffler took a box which contained the four Quidditch Balls, and he took the little golden Snitch in his fingers. "Start!" he said, throwing the ball high in air, and Harry immediately lost it from his sight.  
  
Harry sped up to reach a likeable height and then looked around. The team was looking at him, and so did Cho. He tried to look back up, and searched slowly and carefully for the little Snitch, taking his mind off everything... it was much easier to catch the Snitch while having a clear mind.  
  
The sky was turning darker and darker with every passing minute. It was quite late for searching in the air for the Snitch, and he thought of telling the others that he would try it tomorrow -- but what would they say? That he wasn't good enough? No, he wouldn't accept that... so he still had to try -- even if it was getting really dark and the small ball wasn't glittering golden as it was in midday. He had done it on the night before, but it didn't look that hard to do...  
  
Time passed fast while in the air. Harry really liked the feeling of flying, relaxing as it was... something told him to stay in the air more, to not find the Snitch until he would get bored of it, but then he saw something moving in the darkness. Small and fast, the Snitch was flying in the distant darkness.  
  
Harry didn't pause to think. He hurried towards it, and he caught it in his fist -- he couldn't remember of ever holding a Snitch like that, it was trying to get out of his fingers harder than any Snitch he had caught before... maybe this one was a professional one...  
  
Then he felt like something wasn't as it should have been -- looking again at the Snitch, he saw that it was just a bird. Small as it was, with its thin wings, Harry didn't much blame himself for thinking that it was the Snitch -- there wasn't a big difference between them in the darkness anyway.  
  
He had thrown it into air furiously, and kept looking for the real Snitch -- and until he had seen it there should have passed another ten minutes. Harry caught it easily, and he thought that he didn't stay that much in the air.  
  
"You got it?" Niffler asked, looking at his golden watch. "You did it fast, only twenty-five minutes! That is fast for night, believe me -- I guess I wouldn't be able to see it in five hours! Not to mention that the seeker doesn't have just to see it -- he has to catch it..."  
  
"Mr. Niffler," one of the team members said, "I guess he is our new seeker, right?"  
  
"Yes, Mondrus, he is. And we'll start training him -- I guess the best day to begin in is about a week from Monday?"  
  
"I guess so," Mondrus told him.  
  
"Well, Harry, go to the castle. We have where to sleep..." Saying that, Niffler took his wand and said, "Come, tent!"  
  
Something big appeared at the spot he pointed with his wand, but Harry saw that it wasn't a tent at all. That was a house, a big one(but in the huge Hogwarts Grounds it fit perfectly), with walls almost as magnificient looking as the Hogwarts' ones.  
  
"L -- Let's go," Harry told Cho, knowing that they were the only ones to go back to the castle. She nodded, and then Harry's heart seemed to give a jolt -- it was the first time when he was alone with Cho somewhere -- thinking that they were in the castle when he asked her to the ball. But this time it was something else...  
  
"You really think I am good enough for the captain?" he asked her while they were on their way to the castle.  
  
"I told you, if you aren't good enough, then no one is."  
  
"Then, I guess we have no more captains in the world," Harry said still without having enough self-confidence. "You are a good seeker, too," he told her remembering the Gryffindor Vs. Ravenclaw match in his third year -- she was quite good at it, because even with a slower broom than his, she still could cut his way while he was chasing the Snitch...  
  
Cho almost laughed, and then said, "Oh Harry, come on! I am not even half as good as you are at Quidditch!"  
  
They kept walking to the entrance hall, but the way was quite long. They walked in silence for a while until Cho broke the silence again.  
  
"How did you manage to get into the team?"  
  
"They just called me... Niffler says he saw me playing in my third year."  
  
Harry realized that it was much easier to answer than to ask.  
  
Cho was quite hesitant sometimes before saying something, and it looked quite hard for her to choose what to say. Harry had the feeling that she was thinking at every word. And then, she said, "How are things lately? I heard that you -- er, -- have lots of problems... lately,"  
  
"Yes, I have... thinking of everything that happened --" but he didn't want to say more, maybe he was too boring while talking about his worries -- why not try to talk about something good?  
  
But then she told him, "Mine too..."  
  
"Really?" Harry wondered at first why she was sad and then he remembered. "Oh... You must have really loved him..."  
  
Harry suddenly felt the sense of guilt for Cedric's death he felt in the summer... Cho looked at Harry and he understood that he shouldn't have said that. Or maybe it wasn't bad that he did... only that he remembered her of the event that should have made her extremely sad.  
  
But it didn't.  
  
"Then what are the things bothering you lately?" she asked.  
  
"Well... er... Are you sure that you want to hear this?"  
  
She paused a little, stopped, and looked at him. "Yes..."  
  
Harry didn't know what to tell her, there were lots of things disturbing him. At every time of the day he felt the fear that someone may turn up and kill him on the spot, without any warning. From all the wizards, the one Voldemort hated the most was Harry -- at least that was what he thought. Then, he had no parents, and he missed them a lot; he missed not knowing how it was to be loved, how it was to have a mother and father. Then, he started telling her, "Just try to think how it is... you can't even imagine. At every time of the day, Voldemort --" Cho flinched at the name "-- may turn up and... and -- kill me. Just like he did with my parents..."  
  
He went sad again.  
  
"Oh, you must really miss them, don't you?" ske asked.  
  
Harry nodded.  
  
They entered in the castle while Harry was telling her a few things about his miserable life. He hesitated at first, but seeing that she insisted, he told her about life at the Dursleys and about the end of holiday. He added some good things here and there just to not make her think that his life only had bad things. He told her about the jokes Fred and George did, and about their pland for the joke shop. Many times they started laughing on the corridors.  
  
They said good-bye to each other and Harry went to the Gryffindor Tower, where Harry thought Fred and George would start another party. But, they didn't, and Harry was thankful because he was too tired for something like that.  
  
He told Ron and Hermione about the Quidditch practice, the test, and even about the bird he caught thinking that it was the Snitch. The only thing he wouldn't tell them was about Cho; he just wanted to keep it secret until it would be impossible to hide from his best friends. 


	8. Missing

Chapter 8: Missing  
  
The next day, at first, Harry couldn't remember why he was that happy -- considering the situation he was in. And he couldn't explain his happiness until he remembered what he did the last evening. He was chosen to play for the English National Team at Quidditch!  
  
But it wasn't that. It was his talk with Cho that made him that cheery. And Ron noticed the unusual mood of Harry's while they were going to the Great Hall.  
  
"I haven't seen you that happy lately, Harry," said Ron, "But I am sure that if I was chosen to play for England I was just like you."  
  
Harry just smiled thinking about Cho -- he wondered when he could have the occasion of talking to her again. He couldn't even think of trying to ask her, because he just didn't feel like doing it. The day before, it was Dumbledore the one who told Cho that she could come -- but why would Dumbledore want that? He couldn't know that Harry was feeling something for her, could he?  
  
The first class he had that morning was Potions -- and another class with the slytherins was just the perfect thing to make him feel bad after a wonderful morning. They were continuing the Warmth Potins, and this time everyone managed to make the potion right -- well, obviously, except Neville. Even though Snape shouted at the Gryffindors five times per minute, he seemed pleased at the end of the class because they have managed, at last, to do the potions right.  
  
His mood was becoming as bad as it was before the last days. Trelawney predicted his death in many different ways; her tragic face never seemed to leave her face when she looked at Harry. She even predicted once that Avery would come back and kill Harry, finishing his job for his Lord. That was, however, ridiculous, because a dead man couldn't be brought back to life.  
"What a rubbish," Ron told Harry in the Divination class.  
  
Harry didn't listen to most of the things Trelawney said, mainly because he was partly asleep by the warm, heavily perfume which was spread throughout the room by the fire, and second, he wasn't interrested in it, anyway. However, by instinct, and understanding the idea, he replied to Ron, "Yes."  
  
Professor Trelawney had started teaching the students even more stupid things about crystal balls. She told them that ehere were many types of them, each with its own purpose. Harry couldn't avoid being sleepy, and his mood wasn't helping anything at all. The last days of the holiday came back to his mind...  
  
Next day, when the post arrived, Hermione started reading her copy of the daily prophet. Harry saw that she was looking like stunned by something she read in it.  
  
"What is it?" Harry asked her. "Not that Skeeter again?"  
  
She didn't answer immediately, she first had to come back to her senses; and then he told him, "No." She handed the newspaper to Harry opened at a page where the title was 'Fudge is missing from Work'  
  
Harry went to reading it.  
  
This morning, writes Inklink Peter, Daily Prophet Reporter, Arthur Weasley, head of The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, tells us that the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge himself, is missing from his office. No one had seen him for a few days, and it is rumored that he was attacked by the Dark Lord or one of his servants, and taken away. The Ministry will be looking for him and we will write more as soon as we find out anything.  
  
However, there was no Dark Mark floating over the Ministry Office, and everyone refused giving more information about this. Arthur Weasley did not want to tell us more things.  
  
Harry stood there, thinking hard on who would be that stupid to attack Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself -- the entire Ministry would be looking for him from that day. Then, he decided to give the newspaper to Ron, to inform him on the very important news.  
  
"I don't think it could be like that," Hermione told them after some minutes of thinking. "No one could have attacked Fudge without anyone noticing..."  
  
"Well, it did happen," Ron told her, "If they say -- I guess they had to take him at night --"  
"The reporters always modify the news to make them interresting," Hermione stopped Ron who shot her an angry look, "I doubt that Skeeter was the only one who did that --"  
  
"But what could they modify? I bet that it's true --"  
  
"Oh finish it!" Harry shouted at them and they both fell silent. "We'll find out later what happened..."  
  
Harry understood that Ron was right. It couldn't possibly be the modification of a reporter who wanted audience, he would be punished for that -- Even with the Minister of Magic gone, someone would have noticed the mistake.  
  
That day, he had a nasty feeling that Fudge's disappearance would make a lot of bad things for the entire wizarding world. As if all other things that were happening lately weren't enough! He had found himself one more thing to worry about. He thought a little about every unusual thing he had met lately -- first, Lord Voldemort had risen again... using his -- Harry's -- own blood to come back. Second, he had found out that Avery was trying to make him forget everything with a spell that had to be casted everyday...  
  
That was all he needed... even if he didn't like Fudge too much, Harry felt quite bad about that... Fudge was a very important person after all, even if he was a little short-minded because he didn't want to believe at first that the Dark Lord had come back. He had surely believed that the Dark Lord was back when they took him... too late, though.  
  
In the History of Magic class, his mind slipped to Cho again and the butterflies in his stomach came back; he was thinking of everything he could do about it. But what was the best thing he could do? Should he tell Cho that he wanted to talk to her? He couldn't imagine himself doing it -- he didn't have enough dare for a thing such as that. Then, should he wait? He was sure that the idea of waiting was quite bad, but he still didn't feel like asking her anything.  
  
He hadn't much eaten at lunch much. He just didn't feel hungry, and he couldn't explain why something in his stomach told him that things would turn worse -- maybe it was because if there was no Minister of Magic, there was no one to defend the wizarding world. And that was not the only wizard who disappeared -- many wizards from the Ministry had disappeared lately, he knew it because Hermione read some other things from the Daily Prophet.  
  
The Hogwarts Students were in the Great Hall eating dinner. Harry was quiet, and even with all of Ron's and Hermione's tries to make him talk, he just wasn't in the mood.  
  
"Harry! What bothers you that much?" Ron asked.  
  
"Harry!! Oh Harry, come on! Say something!" Hermione told him, but he didn't do more than to shake his head saying no.  
  
"What's up with you!"  
  
"I hope it's not Fudge's disappearance," Hermione said gravely. "It's just not worth it... don't go sad because of that."  
  
"Hermione, I think we won't be able to talk to him this day."  
  
"Oh leave it to me!" she said, but then someone else entered the conversation --  
  
"You'd better leave it to me, Mudblood!" Malfoy had just appeared at the back of Harry.  
  
And Harry, even though his bad mood was making him to sit quiet, noticed something that he had never seen before -- Hermione seemed to get angry when Malfoy called her Mudblood. Ron was geting ready to jump off the chair, but then --  
  
"Parrum lilitis!" Hermione said, and a jet of black light shot out of her wand, hitting Malfoy. The entire Gryffindor table sudeenly burst into a loud laugh, seeing what happened to Malfoy.  
  
Yet again, his blonde hair disappeared; it just vanished, it was nowhere to be seen as it was when Harry cast the spell on Malfoy in the summer. And, Harry realized, the spell Hermione used wasn't the same one he used in Diagon Alley.  
  
The victim didn't realize what happened at first, and he didn't know what Hermione did with her spell until another slytherin shouted, "His hair had vanished!"  
  
Malfoy's face became scared, and he looked to be ashamed of being humilliated by Hermione, which he considered beneath him, because she was muggle-born. He had just ran back to the slytherin table, saying, "Mudblood, you're in big trouble... you just wait and see," in a slow threatening voice.  
  
Then Harry's troubles were leaving his mind, and this new event started sounding worse than anything. Hermione should be in big trouble, because Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater and Voldemort was lurking free in the world. Maybe Mr. Malfoy was going to get mad at that and try to seek revenge and -- Harry felt something hurt inside him -- kill her?  
  
No, he should get rid of these dark thoughts inside his head. They just made him feel worse, and they were counted more with each passing day.  
  
Harry still didn't want to eat anything -- even with all of his friends' tries.  
  
He had spent the evening in the common room, watching Ron and Hermione playing chess. She rarely wanted to play it, because she always lost, and she didn't like to lose. That was the only thing she was not good at. Maybe she was doing it only to forget the possible things Mr. Malfoy could do to hurt her.  
  
Harry went in a very bad mood to the gryffindor fifth year boys dormitory. It was empty because it was quite early for anyone to go to sleep. He hoped that the next day, things would become better. He hoped that Hermione wouldn't try to do anything bad to Draco, because what she did that day was enough to make all the Malfoys angry. Harry was afraid that Hermione could be hurt or something similar, but why was she that pleased? Did Malfoy annoy her that much? She was out of her usual self, she was quite far from her usual self. Harry knew that she never acted like that -- she usually didn't like to break the rules, not to say about attacking a student... especially Malfoy. She always thought before doing a thing -- but this time it wasn't like that. She just jumped on him, and attacked!  
  
Time was passing in a slow manner, but Harry couldn't fall asleep. He thought it were only his dark thoughts, but it wasn't that; he realized why he couldn't sleep when he heard his stomach make a noise -- he hadn't eaten that day too much...  
  
The other Gryffindor fifth year boys arrived in the dormitory, it had to be quite late at night. He decided to stay only a little more time, to be sure that everyone fell asleep, and then he pulled out the curtains, and looked around for his trunk. At the bottom of it he had an invisibility cloak...  
  
But this time it wasn't his dad's. That one once belonged to Avery. Harry felt something that told him to go and seek his father's cloak, but he knew that it could be anywhere and that he had no chance to find it. Not to mention how stupid it was to go and seek something that may be even in the enemy's hands...  
  
And he was very hungry, so it didn't matter whose cloak was hidden in his trunk; he should have been pleased because he still got one, and he didn't have to die of hunger. He took Avery's cloak silently and wore it; then he left the dormitory trying not to wake anyone.  
  
The castle was always quiet at nighttime. Very rarely could you see a teacher, and just when they were needed, and Harry was one of the few students who was going on highttime strolls -- Maybe he was the only one. He went slowly and carefully to not be heard by a teacher, walking on the stairs slower than ever -- he couldn't remember ever going that slow in his cloak -- not even when he had to share it with Ron and Hermione.  
  
As he walked down the staircases, he heard a low sound coming from nearby. Frightened because of the thought that a teacher found him, he stopped like petrified, looking around him -- but no, there was no one in the entire hall... It should have been only him imagining things.  
  
After he was sure that there was no one, and that he was wearing the invisibility cloak properly so that no one could see parts of his body, he headed again to the kitchens. But then --  
  
Someone let out a quite loud noise, and he felt himself touching something -- it should have been something invisible. He was thinking only at three words. "Not a teacher." Trying to summon more of his courage, he stood frozen in the place where he was, and after a few seconds that person touched him again.  
  
That time, he acidentally said a "What...". Maybe it was a Death Eater again, it wasn't a long time since he met Avery in his invisibility cloak. Was he -- or another Death Eater -- back? Harry just couldn't forget the times when he met Avery.  
  
No, the voice he heard before seemed a female voice -- maybe there were female Death Eaters in Voldemort's ranks, too? Harry recalled when Voldemort said that the entire Lestrange family was kept in Azkaban.  
  
"Er," he said.  
  
"What --"  
  
"Who --"  
  
"-- happened?"  
  
"Who are..."  
  
"Harry?"  
  
Then he realized who it was. It was no need to guess, because that voice was on his mind for the entire summer.  
  
"Cho?"  
  
"Yes, it's me," Cho said, and then Harry could see her very pretty face. He took off his invisibility cloak as well, feeling the butterflies in his stomach again. He was looking forward to meeting Cho these days, and it had just happened!  
  
They were both surprised and Harry was still scared of hitting a teacher or a Death Eater in an invisibility cloak. When they got familiar with the situation, Harry was curious about what Cho was doing out at night.  
  
"Cho?" he asked, "W - What were you doing out of bed this late?" he asked, and after a second of silence, he added, "We are not allowed to --"  
  
"Remember that you were out, too," Cho answered, laughing. and then something broke the conversation --  
  
"WHO'S THERE?" they could hear a shouting voice in the distance.  
  
"Oh, no," Cho said, looking downstairs, "It's Filch... Put on your invisibility cloak and stay around until he passes."  
  
But Harry was already invisible by the time she said those words. "See you after Filch goes away," Harry whispered.  
  
Filch came into sight, his eyes were looking around for every possible source of the noise. "Come out, you can't hide!" he said, passing the staircase Harry and Cho were on. His cat, Mrs. Norris, was looking at Harry, who still was asking himself if cats could see through invisibility cloaks. If not, they could definitely smell through them, because they only tricked the eye, not the nose... "Come, My sweet," Filch continued, and then he was out of sight, heading upstairs to the Gryffindor Tower.  
  
Harry wanted to take his invisibility cloak off, but then he was stopped by an invisible hand. "Don't", Cho told him in a whisper, "He will be back soon."  
  
And after a few minutes, which passed quite fast, Harry saw that Cho was right -- Filch went back to his office, with a very angry expression on his face. Harry had nothing to say against that, he surely was angry because he hadn't found the students walking out at night... maybe he thought it was one of the teachers and he just returned angry on himself.  
  
"That was close," Cho told him taking her cloak off.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"So what were you doing here?"  
  
"Oh," Harry paused a bit to think, "I was hungry..."  
  
"Going to the kitchens?"  
  
"Yes... been there several times --" but then he decided to not say anything more, it just wasn't a very bright idea to tell her about his past rule-breaking experiences, even though his heart was telling him what to say instead of his brain.  
  
"Yes, me too, that's where I was going, too."  
  
"Oh... Then... let's go," Harry told her, a little more nervous than he thought. "You don't mind, right?"  
  
She gave him a look that reminded him of the one she gave him when he reminded about Cedric. Then, they started walking nervously to the kitchens.  
  
"Wouldn't it be a better idea if we put our cloaks on?" Harry asked, "We may be spotted."  
  
"Oh," Cho answered, surprised, "Yes, right... Forgot..."  
  
Then Harry had the absurd idea to be covered by the same cloak as Cho was -- because they could see each other, but how would that sound if he told Cho something like that?  
  
"What should we do to not -- er -- lose each other?" Cho asked, and that was something very similar to what Harry was thinking. But what should he answer?  
"Dunno," he said, and he covered everything except his head with the cloak. Cho did the same. "Well..."  
  
"We should stick -- together," Cho said, pulling her invisibility cloak over her head, too. "Let's --" but she didn't say anything after that.  
  
"Cho? Are you there?" Harry asked after a few seconds of complete silence in the stair hall.  
  
"Yes... Come, we will check if we are near each other from time to time. Now, let's head to the kitchens."  
  
That was the best idea Harry heard that evening -- or better said, night. Even if he had a strange desire to do as he thought before, something stopped him, and that was his fears. What if she didn't feel for him like he felt for her? He knew very well that he liked her...  
  
After a short journey they reached the kitchens. They were relieved to be able to get rid of the invisibility cloaks at last, and as they reached the kitchens, several house-elves came hurrying towards them. One of the house-elves was Dobby, the house-elf Harry saved from the Malfoys in his second year after the Chamber of Secrets incident.  
  
"Harry Potter sir! Dobby is pleased to see you again sir!"  
  
"Hello, Dobby! Nice to meet you, too!"  
  
Every house-elf looked at Dobby as Voldemort told Dumbledore that he wanted to join the good side. Harry knew that house-elves were not to be polite with, because they would consider themselves insulted.  
  
"Now this is a strange house-elf," Cho told Harry, "He always wears clothes..."  
  
"And he has a paying, and holidays..." Harry continued. Cho was astounded to hear that, it was known that house-elves didn't like to be paid by humans, and that it was in their nature to be -- as Hermione would say -- slaves. However, that was not one of Dobby's characteristics.  
  
"How do you know that?" Cho asked him.  
"Dobby was saved by Harry Potter!" Dobby continued what Harry had to say. "Master was the one who helped me get out of the Malfoy house. Great man, Harry Potter."  
  
"You worked for the Malfoys?" Cho asked surprised.  
  
"Dobby did, Miss."  
  
Then, several house-elves were eyeing Dobby again, and when he noticed that, he continued, "What should we give you, sir and miss?"  
  
"Er --" Cho started, not knowing what to ask to eat; and then she looked at Harry.  
  
"D'you like chicken?" Harry asked her, and then she nodded. "Bring --" but the house-elves already left, and after a few seconds, they were back with plates full of tasty food. "Thanks!" Harry told the house-elves, many of them felt insulted. After all, not all house-elves were Dobby...  
  
They ate a lot, mainly because Harry was hungrier than ever after not eating at lunch nor at dinner. They left the house-elves("Dobby was pleased to see you, sir and miss," Dobby told them) and they put on their invisibility cloaks.  
  
They went quietly upstairs, talking in whispers while wearing their invisibility cloaks. Harry told her that the cloak he currently wore wasn't his, and he started telling the entire story of his father's invisibility cloak. He paused everytime he had to say the word "dad" or "father", because he missed them so much. After he had finished, she said that she had her cloak inherited from her mother, and that she used it for quite some rulebreaking -- still not as much as Harry did.  
  
"Once, in my third year, you know, with all the chamber of secrets stuff happening," she said, "I took the invisibility cloak to follow the teachers around and search for Black myself." Harry thought about Sirius... he was not allowed to tell her about his godfather, because he was still searched by the dementors, and everyone except a few people knew about his innocence. "As I was walking --"  
Something could be heard behind them. They both heard the sound and turned back, but there was nothing to be seen in the dark corridors around. They continued their walk quietly, because someone may have heard them talking -- and being invisible was a very odd moment to talk when someone could have heard you.  
  
It was the second time when they heard something when Harry took off his cloak. "Harry!" said Cho, "What do you think you're doing?"  
  
But Harry had no time to answer Cho -- someone was following them. Cho took off her cloak as well, trying to make Harry turn back, but with no success. "Harry! Don't do something as stupid as this --"  
  
"Quiet," Harry told her, and, seeing that he couldn't be stopped, she did as she was told. Then Harry heard some muttering, and then he was surprised to see a white light closing his eyes --  
  
And then the light hit his head. He felt himself falling on the floor, and that was the last thing he knew before blanking out. 


	9. Who?

Chapter 9: Who?  
Harry woke up the next day, feeling very weak. The previous adventures slowly came back to his head. First, he just felt bad because of Fudge's mysterious disappearance, then he remembered the things that happened just the previous day (he didn't think that he was unconscious more than one day, even if he was used to it from his first year when he was unconscious for three days.) He had been attacked by someone while he was with Cho... From all the moments the attacker could choose, it was the one where he was talking with Cho, forgetting any worry he had(well, maybe except for the fact that maybe she didn't like him)... his mind was whirling, and he was just wondering who attacked him.  
  
Soon, he discovered that he could open his eyes. Everything felt so heavy -- his arms, legs... his entire body... He looked around the room he was in -- he looked at the bed he was lying on... there was no confusing about the familiar hospital wing. There were a few people around him who he recognized even with his mind whirling.  
  
They were Ron, Hermione, Madam Pomfrey and Cho. Ron, Hermione and Cho were sitting just near him, looking at his eyes. They suddenly became happier seeing that --  
  
"He woke up!" came Ron's voice, echoing in Harry's ears until the brain managed to understand what Ron said. Madam Pomfrey left the patient she was sitting near, and walked to Harry's bed.  
  
"Stand back," she told to the three, "Potter, do you feel, by any chance, better?"  
  
He could barely speak in a low voice. "No... Bad..."  
  
"Does it hurt?"  
  
"No... it -- just... I am... weak..." Harry replied.  
  
"Then, you should take a few of this potion." She took a bluish green potion which she drained in Harry's mouth. The effect was almost instant -- Harry was starting to feel better.  
  
The next moment, the door slid open and Professor Dumbledore entered the room, looking straight at Harry and Cho. Were they going to be in trouble for being on the corridors in midnight?  
  
"Harry," he said, "Are you strong enough to come to my office?"  
  
Harry was feeling a lot better, he started feling his body; he was able to move it. The potion Madam Pomfrey gave his was showing its effect very fast. "Yes." He stood up, to Madam Pomfrey's annoyance.  
  
"Dumbledore, it is not good for him --"  
  
"This should be excused, because we need more information about what happened last night. Harry? Miss Chang?"  
  
Cho stood up and looked at Dumbledore. By the look on her face, she had never been to Dumbledore's office before, because she was quite surprised. "Follow me."  
  
Dumbledore lead them to the familiar -- at least for Harry -- way to the spiral staircase where the stone gargoyle was placed. "Canary Creams," Dumbledore told the gargoyle and it jumped, allowing the three of them to pass. They reached the circular office with pictures of the previous headmasters inside. Cho was looking all around the office, admiring the way Dumbledore placed everything. That office was the nicest-looking of all offices at Hogwarts, and Harry supposed that it was the nicest room in the entire castle.  
  
Dumbledore went to his chair, and sat on it. He told Harry and Cho to take example and do the same, pointing to a few of the many chairs in the office.  
  
"So, I bet that you are able to explain better now?" But they didn't say anything. "How did it happen?"  
  
"We were walking -- on our way to out comon rooms," Cho told the headmaster nervously. Harry was sure that she was afraid that Dumbledore would ask what they were doing that late at night in the corridors -- but Harry knew Dumbledore enough to bet that he wouldn't be asking that. "And we heard someone..."  
  
"It was a Death Eater, that was for sure," Harry continued, feeling that it would be better if he explained it and letting Cho take a breath. "I took Avery's cloak off and wanted to see who -- or what -- had made some noise. Then all I remember was seeing a white light hit me and I was out."  
  
"Is that all?" Dumbledore asked, looking like he needed more information. What Harry said, certainly, wasn't enough.  
  
"W - We knew nothing," said Cho, "we didn't expect to meet anyone -- and we don't know who he was... I couldn't see anything, he was wearing an invisibility cloak..."  
  
Dumbledore looked at Harry.  
  
"Miss Chang was good enough to bring you to me last night, and if she wasn't there I am sure that the attacker could hurt you more than that. It was just a special stunning spell, one of the Dark Arts. The dark version of the Stupefy spell, I guess. She told me what she saw, when we brought you to the Hospital Wing, and there is no mistaking it.  
  
"Ron, Hermione and you two are the only ones who know about the incident last night. You should not tell anyone else about it because it may create panic and I don't want that in the school for nothing."  
  
Harry knew that it couldn't be nothing, it was quite the opposite -- there was someone hunting Harry again in the school! And it could have been some new Death Eater, thinking that half of the Ministry disappeared... and Fudge wasn't there to help with the disappearances anymore. He was in danger, even worse than how he had been before the term started.  
  
"Until we will decide on what to do, Harry... remember what the supposed Professor Moody told you? Constant Vigillance. That is what you should think of... and apply it. I must ask you not to walk at midnight as you just did this night."  
  
"Yes, professor," Harry told him, and then he understood that the conversation was over from Dumbledore's final tone which he knew quite well by then. The three of them stood up, and Harry with Cho went down the stairs. The only question Harry had in mind was who tried to kill him this time... Last time it was Avery, but he was dead... Voldemort could have sent anyone to finish Avery's job... Harry just hoped that he would be able to cast another Crucuatus when he will need it.  
  
With Fudge gone, the only person they had as a defense was Dumbledore (Even if Fudge didn't want at first to believe that Voldemort returned, he surely knew by then). If he was taken by the Death Eaters, and that was the only possible thing, they would have killed him, wouldn't they? That meant Fudge was dead... but was he?  
  
Harry just couldn't see how they managed to take him.  
  
Taking advantage of the day being Saturday, Harry just sat and talked with Ron, Hermione and Cho about what happened. They went into an empty classroom to not be heard by other gryffindors, because, as Dumbledore said, they shouldn't create panic. The first conclusion they reached was that --  
  
"Harry is in great danger," Hermione said finally after talking about the last night. He and Cho had to explain how they met each other first...  
  
"I am," said Harry, "And Professor Trelawney will be right this year with my death --"  
  
"Oh Don't be that pessimistic," Ron told him again. "Just... hope for the best, will you?"  
  
"Yea," Harry answered sarcastically, "the most unpainful death --" but he stopped seeing that all three around him gave him annoyed looks. "Well, then, what to do when the wizard almost everyone fears has me as his primary target?"  
  
"Listen to Dumbledore," Cho gave her opinion, "and be in a constant vigillance... what else?"  
  
"I am used to this by now," Harry said in a low voice. "Four years ago I have met Voldemort... and then an year after that, too... what to say about just three months ago? Meeting his is an usual thing by now..."  
  
"But this time he is stronger," said Hermione, "so it won't be as easy as it was the last times -- now he has, er, Death Eaters..."  
  
"Good, then let's eat them," Harry answered in his sarcastic voice. The effect of his words were that they made Ron laugh, put a smile on Cho's face and made Hermione even angrier.  
  
"Then, eat them!" Hermione answered, "I'm really sick of this! If that's how you want to deal with them --"  
  
"Hermione, he was just kidding!" Ron stopped her.  
  
"You can't be serious even when we are talking about a life that's in danger? Then, I'll leave you on your own, to find the death eater and -- and... well... bye!"  
  
With that, she hurried out of the classroom. That was all what Harry needed, to lose his friends, exactly at the time when the Death Eaters came back to Hogwarts...  
  
"Wonder if the Death Eater is trying to use memory charms again, or if he had found a better idea..." Ron's and Cho's attention, which had been solely focused on the parting Hermione, now turned to Harry. "What?" he asked seeing how the two still left in the classroom were looking at him.  
  
"You just made Hermione walk out!" said Cho, giving him a look of pity (though not as horrible as Trelawney's). "She's one of your best friends, yes?"  
  
"'Course she is... but..."  
  
"It was my fault, too," said Ron attracting both Harry's and Cho's attention. "She left when I told her that Harry was just joking..."  
  
They paused to look at each other. Harry looked at Cho... he just couldn't imagine her liking him -- not after his fault for Cedric's death... and how she would think that his entire life is a danger.  
  
"It's lunchtime," Cho broke the silence, and waking Harry up from his dreamy state, "Let's go."  
  
"Oh right," said Harry, and the three of them set off towards the Great Hall. It was quite close to the classroom they were, so the journey didn't take long. They said good-bye to Cho, because she was going to the Ravenclaw table, and sat on the few empty seats. Hermione chose one where they couldn't sit near her, so they had no alternative than to sit at a quite far distance from her.  
  
Analysing the situation now was even worse. All those horrible things planned by Lord Voldemort were as dangerous for Harry as possible, and, to make matters worse, Hermione didn't look like she was in the mood of talking to him.  
  
He ate slowly, taking a lot of time for each chew. He didn't want to talk to anyone, and as he was looking around the full and noisy great hall, he saw everything fading slowly to darkness... his eyes were closing, the noise was disappearing...  
  
"Master," he could hear from the darkness, "Harry Potter is almost dead..." That was Wormtail's voice. "The man you sent does his job in a perfect way... you will be pleased of his work, Master..."  
  
"Yes, Wormtail, I know..." replied a cold voice which Harry identified as Voldemort's. It was another of his dreams about the present... He had many dreams like this last year. He had to pay attention, because they were true...  
  
"My Lord, I think your second in command isn't trustworthy enough..." came an unidentified voice, which Harry had never heard before. Everything was black, there was nothing to see. For Harry, it was like he couldn't see anymore... like if he was blind...  
  
"Now, now, don't be so sure about that... I know who I choose for everything... Who did you think that I will choose as a second in command to kill that Potter, a Lestrange like you? No... you are faithful indeed, but that's not enough... The skill matters a lot at this..."  
  
The one who Voldemort was talking with was Lestrange... Harry heard about him when the day when the Dark Lord came back, he said that the entire family was in Azkaban.  
  
"But, even if Avery failed my task, I am sure that there is no one better than the one who I sent -- very good of him to join us... Even I couldn't choose my second in command better -- and he just came to me... I am thankful..."  
  
"And what's my task, Master?" asked Lestrange.  
  
"Nothing... just... guard Wormtail until he will be needed," he said.  
  
Still Harry couldn't see them, he only heard them talking. What he had just found out was very bad: Voldemort had just sent another Death Eater, he had sent his second in command, to kill Harry... and because it wsa the second in Voldemort's command, he had to be very powerful...  
  
The last thing he could hear before the dream stopped was something like "Extra docere" and then the image of the Great Hall was coming back. Hermione was looking at him worried, at least she wasn't upset with him anymore -- at least he hoped she wasn't -- and she was not the only one looking at him like that. Many students gathered around him, and he realized that it was the first time he had a dream with everyone in Hogwarts seeing him.  
  
"Harry!" came Ron's voice. "Not another -- dream?"  
  
The crowd was making it impossible for Harry to talk to Ron anymore. That was until Dumbledore told them to be quiet, and to leave slowly to their Common Rooms -- it was saturday and they had no classes.  
  
Mostly everyone listened to Dumbledore, and there were only three persons who hadn't left. Ron, Hermione and... Cho. He thought a moment about what happened with her; did she enter their group? She seemed to spend a lot of time with Harry, Ron and Hermione that day -- well, everything started because she had found out more about Harry's situation than most of the Hogwarts students.  
  
Harry, thankfully, was feeling a lot better by then -- he was almost back to normal.  
  
"I think we all want to know what happened," said Dumbledore, taking a seat at the Gryffindor table. "I haven't sat at this table for a very long time... It reminds me of my time at Hogwarts..." Then, the headmaster turned back to Harry.  
  
"It was another dream. Voldemort was talking to one of the Lestranges," Harry answered.  
  
"The Lestranges were in Azkaban... well, yes, the dementors joined Voldemort only a few weeks ago..."  
  
Cho put her hands to her mouth in horror. "WHAT?"  
  
"Yes, they did..." Dumbledore continued.  
  
"Hagrid told us," said Harry. "Well, this Lestrange was there with his Lord again... talking about his second in command who was -- was sent to... to kill me."  
  
However, there was only one very strange thing. He had a very strong feeling that his brain was fuller than before. He seemed to know a few things he didn't know until he had dream, and it weren't Voldemort's words... It was the strangest feeling he had since his memory was wiped out for a few hours... he couldn't think what it was...  
  
"Something wrong?" Dumbledore asked seeing Harry's confused face.  
  
"Something... strange, professor," he continued, "I feel like I know lots of new things that I have never heard of..." All four persons around him looked curious to understand what Harry had to say, and feeling that they wanted to know it, he started concentrating on those new things things that he had never heard of before, but they were printed in his mind perfectly -- it felt like he knew it all his life, but that couldn't be true. He tried to pick up these memories, and said, "Something tells me that I am a Dark Wizard."  
  
Harry felt that he had to leave the conversation. At the same moment, he looked at the enchanted ceiling and saw that it started to rain.  
  
Everyone except Dumbledore looked terrified. "Oh, Harry," said Hermione, "You'll never..."  
  
"I just feel that I know that... Oh, there are lots of other things... I know all of the Death Eaters except one, the second in command after Voldemort..."  
  
He felt like something was controlling him, something like an Imperius... but that wasn't an Imperius, he knew how it felt... he felt something that told him to leave, again, but where, he didn't know.  
"I've got to go," he said.  
  
"Why?" asked Cho.  
  
"Where?" continued Hermione.  
  
But they didn't get an answer. Harry's legs controlled him and he felt like he was forced to go -- even though he still didn't know ehere his legs were carrying him... He didn't want to leave them there... not at that dark time... but he couldn't do anything about it --  
  
Up the staircases, he was walking on the seventh floor... He was heading to the Common Room, and he suddenly knew why. Something told him that he should read the Dark Book of Dark Arts more... it just came to his head as mysteriously as the other things did...  
  
Not at a long distance in his back, Cho, Hermione, Ron and Dumbledore were following him... He saw them and yelled as loud as he could, because he wanted them to hear him, "HELP!!!"  
  
Something inside him lead him to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Avery!" Harry automatically said and the portrait slid open, making way to the dormitories, where Harry hid his Dark Book of Dark Arts -- the book Hermione gave him for his birthday.  
  
He took the mysterious book, and held it tightly. He didn't know why exactly he wanted to do that, but he felt that he had to read something. Then his mind continued to work by itself, and he opened the book at page sixty-seven, at chapter fourteen.  
  
He could hear the pleasant sound done by the rain outside. It made the situation look quite sary, but it was a thing he immediately forgot. He heard that the door to the room seemed to lock suddenly, and after a moment, his attention was captured by something else... he had seen the chapter title the book was opened at. It seemed to be exactly what he wanted to know...  
  
Dark Arts: Memory spells  
  
Through the multitude of Dark Spells, the most complicated to cast, and the most powerfull of all, are the Memory Spells. Being very complicated, they are cast very rarely, and only the strongest Dark Wizards manage to cast them. Their power is unthinkable for some people. It may not seem much, but a person can add something to someone's memory. That's a considerable advantage towards the normal Obliviate spells, which can only erase memory.  
  
Besides of having the power of modifying the memory, the caster is able to tell his target what he has to do -- something like the Imperius Curse, but much different -- the target thinks for itself, so the caster does not have to concentrate all the time on what he wants the victim to do. The actual effect is to print in someone's memory that he has to do a thing, and for him, it is just like any other decision he made.  
  
While reading that line, Harry heard that the locked door was hit from the other side. His friends did many tries to unlock the door, but all of them were failed. Harry had to read that chapter -- it explained the things he was facing... so he just continued...  
  
The victim may be forced to do many things, but the spell has limited powers, making Imperio better sometimes. Besides of the concentration and energy needed to perform the spell, the things the victim is forced to do must have a connection to the things added to the person's memory, or else the brain would get confused and not do anything. Only one of the spells doesn't need to have this rule, and it's almost impossible to cast -- there were only two wizards who ever did it since year 715 BC. We do not know if it was used before this time.  
  
The more Harry read, the more it made sense. Someone added to his memory these things like the Death Eaters' names, the fact that he was turning evil... he felt that there were many new things added to his memory, but he couldn't make difference between the things he knew before the spell was casted. He was forced to go and read the book to be able to understand what was happening. But, why would the Death Eater want Harry to understand what was happening to him?  
  
The persons outside were still trying to open the door, but there was no chance. Even though he felt quite scared, having a feeling that someone was in his room, Harry's attention was focused on the book too much, he couldn't just go and help them enter the room... so he continued reading...  
  
However, if the target is a strong wizard, the caster may have a few problems in controlling the spell. The victim is still acting on its own will, but he just feels that he has to do what the caster told him. However, if the victim is good enough, he may manage to fight it, and he would be able to make difference between the normal things he has to do and the new ones. He would eventually understand that someone was modifying his memory, and concentrate harder on ignoring the spell's effects, if possible.  
  
The door to the bedroom was hit many times, and even though their efforts were huge, hoping that they would eventually break it, they had no chance -- that was another thing Harry just knew... he knew that they couldn't open the door until Harry finished reading the chapter in the Dark Book. Thinking of that feeling, he saw a thunder out of his window... the rain was making a quite loud noise. Still, he continued reading...  
  
There are many different spells for these kinds of memory-modification spells. One of them is Addictus memoriae, and it is the most powerful spell of this kind. The victim is able to be taught every possible thing, and the 'i must do' thoughts don't necessarily need to be connected to the new additions to the target's mind. It is harder to fight than other spells, too.  
  
The second is Extra Docere. It has almost the same effects as the Addictus memoriae, and the only difference is that the things the victim is forced to do must have a small connection to the extra thoughts he is given. It is a lot easier to cast than the Addictus memoriae spell, but its effects are limited.  
  
Harry read that paragraph and remembered that he had heard that incantation somewhere -- but he couldn't remember when... a lot of time had to pass since he heard it...  
  
Or maybe not. The truth came to his mind quite fast -- the last time he heard that incantation was in the dream! When the dream was over, those were the last words he had heard... someone casted the spell...  
  
That meant that while he was dreaming, someone was casting that spell on him. The Death Eater -- the second in command to Voldemort -- was in the Great Hall only a few minutes ago, casting a powerful Dark Spell on Harry... if he was Voldemort's second in command, he surely was powerful enough to do that spell.  
  
Fear was entering in Harry's mind... what if the Death Eater managed to get in the Gryffindor common Room?  
  
That would explain why the door was suddenly locked as soon as he got in -- Harry couldn't think of any way of locking that door without being in the room. The one who created the door didn't think that someone would want to lock it... it had no locker...  
  
The Death Eater was in the Common Room, invisible. Harry, confused as he was, panicked. There was nothing to do -- he just took Avery's invisibility cloak and put it on himself, while throwing the Dark Book of Dark Arts in his trunk, feeling a coldness penetrating him...  
  
He heard a sound, and the door to the dormitory slid open. Four people suddenly entered the room: The first was Dumbledore, who had the serious facial expression Harry had only seen twice... there was no smile on his face, no twinkle in his eyes... Ron and Hermione came very soon after him, and they looked very scared of the things that happened lately. Cho was the last who came, and she was exactly as Ron and Hermione were -- terrified... scared that something very bad could happen... Harry remembered that he was as terrified as they were.  
  
Dumbledore looked straight at Harry -- but Ron, Hermione and Cho didn't.  
  
"Harry?" asked Dumbledore, "Are you alright?"  
  
Ron's voice soon came -- "What Harry? He isn't here..."  
  
"He is," Dumbledore continued, to everyone's confusion. Harry had suddenly understood everything -- he was wearing his invisibility cloak... and Dumbledore could see through it. "Take it off, Harry."  
  
He did as Dumbledore ordered -- the Death Eater, if he was in the room, would never attack Harry with Dumbledore around. Ron, Hermione, Cho and Harry were all looking at Dumbledore with admiration and confusion -- how could he see through invisibility cloaks?  
  
To make sure that he wasn't just imagining things, he considered asking Dumbledore if he really could see through invisibility cloaks. But he didn't need to bother asking, because Dumbledore answered it before Harry said one word --  
  
"Yes, I can see through invisibility cloaks."  
  
The four students were looking at Dumbledore very interrested; they never thought that someone could see through invisibility cloaks without a magical eye like Moody's.  
  
That confirmed the fact that the Death Eater wasn't there at all. If he was, Dumbledore would have seen him, so Harry's fears have passed -- at least a part of them. He just hoped that there were no more things he was forced to do...  
  
He had a feeling that he had to tell Dumbledore about the book, and that was another thing that could possibly be an effect of the Extra Docere spell. He just tried to fight it, because he knew it was possible; the book stated it. And he knew that he had to ignore it...  
  
"Harry... mind if you'll come to my office?"  
  
"No, professor," said Harry, hoping that he wouldn't do anything bad.  
  
But where was the Death Eater?  
  
He tried to not think about that, and then the group left the dormitory. Ron and Hermione remained in the common room, and Cho went to the Ravenclaw Common Room, at Dumbledore's orders.  
  
As Harry entered Dumbledore's office, he felt much safer. He thought that it was a spell of some kind, there were many protective spells that Dumbledore could want to cast on his office. Dumbledore sat on his chair, and he told Harry to do the same.  
  
"What happened?" asked Dumbledore, and that question surprised Harry -- Dumbledore was the one who was asked questions like that...  
  
But Harry had to answer the question. Harry knew everything this time, at least he hoped he did; that spell could have introduced false clues to Harry's mind, too. That was the only thing that bothered him, and he wanted to ask Dumbledore about that -- but he had to start with the beginning.  
  
"I had a dream..." he started to say, but he didn't know exactly how to continue. Dumbledore looked at him, interrested, and then Harry said, "and after it someone cast a spell -- Extra Docere."  
  
At that words, Dumbledore backed off a little, and he seemed to be thinking hard about what Harry said. It was not everyday when someone casted a Dark Spell as advanced as that, after all. "That's bad," said Dumbledore.  
  
"I know lots of things that I didn't know before... I seem to know them for a long time, but I know I didn't... the spell introduced them."  
  
"Yes," Dumbledore continued looking at Fawkes, who was fliyng around the office, "And that can be really bad. We do not know if they are true or not."  
  
"And I do not know which things I knew before and which I didn't... although there are many things that I know are new, there may be lots of new things that may seem true..."  
  
Dumbledore took that more serious than anything Harry had ever told him, and it was obvious that he would do that because Harry was in a great danger -- he had never thought that someone would modify his memory that much. It seemed impossible before that happened -- Harry had never thought that there were spells capable to do as much trouble as that.  
  
And then Harry thought he realized something -- the Crucio he casted on Avery could be the result of the same dark spell... Voldemort may have wanted to punish Avery, as he wanted to do with almost all his Death Eaters because they didn't try to find him and bring him back to power -- until Wormtail did it, of course. Voldemort didn't care for his followers more than he cared of his enemies.  
  
"And about the Cruciatus?" asked Harry, wanting to understand better. Dumbledore looked at him for a few seconds, and his eyes twinkled again; but he didn't say anything. "Could that be the result of this Dark Spell?"  
  
"Could it... About that, again, I can only guess... and my guess is that it was the result of this spell. But that is not sure... That's the only thing I could think about.. unless..."  
Harry stood there, confused. Dumbledore had just stopped in the middle of the sentence, leaving a blank in Harry's mind. "Unless...?"  
  
"You will find that out that later, if it is true..."  
  
But Harry knew better than to ask. Both of them stood up, and Harry slowly walked towards the door to the office. He was just asking himself what Dumbledore was thinking about, and didn't want to tell him -- yet. He just hoped that he would find out soon.  
  
Ne had nothing to do except to go to the Common Room, to share everything with Ron and Hermione. They had to be confused by everything, because they didn't know anything at all except that Harry had the dream.  
  
They were waiting for him worried. Harry didn't blame them, because he acted very strange, running to the dormitory... and then the door was closed... they had to know.  
  
"Harry! Are you alright?" asked Hermione.  
  
"Yes -- I hope so," he answered.  
  
"What happened?" came Ron's turn to ask.  
  
"Oh, it's an awfully long and complicated story," said Harry. Seeing Ron's and Hermione's obvious curiosity, he started to explain the dream; and then the urge he felt to go to the dormitory, the spell... he didn't forget to tell them about his fear that the Death Eater could be in the room. And after all those things, he told them one more thing. "Come and read that chapter of the Dark Book."  
  
Hermione read it, but Ron was pleased with the information Harry and Hermione told him. He didn't bother reading, because he knew that Hermione would tell him all of it...  
  
"And," said Harry, "If anything bad happens... with me, just tell me that it's wrong. The Death Eater could have told me that I have to do more things than just read the book... maybe he is controlling me more than that... just warn me, because I've seen that I am able to fight it quite well..."  
  
It was becoming later and later as they spoke. when Harry decided to go to bed, the Common Room was empty, besides of him, Ron and Hermione. And even in his bed, he stood awake for a few hours... 


	10. Weakness

Chapter 10: Weakness  
  
Another week passed very fast, Harry didn't even notice when that all happened. Worrying all day long because the Death Eater could turn up and cast an unknown spell on Harry, time seemed to pass faster than ever. He had only met Cho once, and they talked about what Dumbledore told him... and after a week, his worries decreased a little.  
  
The first thing that was classified as out of ordinary happened on Monday, September the 18th. Harry was reminded that Niffler told him that they would start practices on that day, and he started to forget everything else and concentrate on this new event. Being a Quidditch Player for a team like that meant a lot for him, and he wanted to try to do the best he could; he didn't want to disappoint so many people who overestimated him.  
  
Niffler came in the Gryffindor Common Room and told them that they would start the practice after the classes, and that meant in the evening; another bad thing that could happen to Harry -- he couldn't see the Snitch very well on darkness. He just hoped that he would manage to do the same thing as he did the first time that term, and catch the Snitch in a very short time.  
  
He didn't feel like eating that morning at all. It wasn't a quidditch match, it was just a practice, but Harry felt the same nervousness as he did before a normal quidditch game, or maybe even like the one he felt before the tasks of the Triwizard tournament. That day was a very important one, after all... even though it was just a practice!...  
  
The first class he had on Monday was Potions, and that did nothing else that to annoy him -- he was quite nervous on the upcoming training, and the only thing he needed was another class with Snape... Harry just hoped that he wouldn't blow anything up if Snape would make him angry.  
  
After warmth potions, there came coldness and freezing potions. If Snape hadn't bullied Neville enough at Warmth Potions, he had enough oportunities to bully him at these kinds of potions -- they weren't that dangerous to work at but they were much more complicated. The only bad thing that one could suffer was to freeze, and that could be solved immediately with a warmth charm. The only bad thing was that they didn't do warmth charms yet with flitwick -- and Harry didnt think Snape would cast one on Neville; not until Neville suffered a few minutes anyway.  
  
"Potter! Do not put the unicorn tail hair in the cauldron only after you will see the frozen water on the bottom of it!" shouted Snape, and to the Gryffindor's disgust, he took five points from Harry.  
  
"How much I'd like to freeze Snape with a potion like that," Ron whispered in Harry's year. They forced themselves not to laugh -- that could have got themselves into lots of trouble, and the Gryffindors still had a negative number of house points. Harry had a small feeling that he was about to freeze Snape with a potion, but that could take even more valuable points from Gryffindor.  
  
At the end of the class, Snape told them a few notes about the following classes. He didn't look pleased when he told everyone that they will start on Healing Potions.  
  
He enjoyed a good Care of Magical Creatures class with Hagrid, where he told them more things about the Phoenix Owls. He told them how they were created, and many students had the idea of trying to have one. It was very welcoming to have an owl that could heal, could mail very heavy packages, and that looked beautiful... Logically, everyone seemed to like those owls much more than normal owls. Still, they were very rare, and not anyone could have one. It was a very strange thing that Malfoy had nothing bad to add when Hagrid said something; he seemed to enjoy the class very much.  
  
That evening soon approached, and the time to go and see Niffler arrived too soon for him. He wished he had one more day until he had to go at the practice, or whatever Niffler wanted to do on Harry's the first day. He only enjoyed it because it was Quidditch...  
  
Trying to ignore the fact that he was feeling very nervous, he opened the entrance gates of the castle very slowly. They seemed to listen to his thoughts, or somehting similar, because he opened them easier than usual -- or maybe it was just his mind... it was working a little different from usual... Harry had found out that he had never done to something that disturned him that much. Playing for the English Quidditch Team brought both nervousness and a very pleasant feeling at the same time...  
  
He walked on the cold grass, looking between the dark clouded sky and the lake, where he could see the moon's reflection quite clearly. The air above him felt so heavy -- Everything seemed to be very hard to do... even moving his legs and arms... he felt them weaker and weaker... they were about to give up any moment... his mind seemed to stop working the last few strange moments --  
  
And then he fell on the cold grass, unable to move and think at all... he just looked at the cloudy sky brighten and then he saw the moon whining brightly in the sky. He didn't move at all, just stood on the ground like dead, until he heard some footsteps in the distance. Someone was running on the grass... Harry heard someone call his name. The voice couldn't be identified by Harry's mind...  
  
"Harry! What..." but the speaker stopped instantly. Harry saw the dark outline of the one who was talking, but he didn't know who the person was... he wouldn't have known who he was even if he could see his face with his brain working like that... His mind seemed completely blank.  
  
"Ennervate!" the person said, but that had no effect on Harry. "Lephter, help me... got to bring him to the Hospital Wing..."  
  
"Mobilicorpus!"  
  
Even though everything around Harry felt very heavy before, it was becoming lighter and lighter; and he started to feel a lot better. He recognized the spell that was casted on him -- it was supposed to make him float in midair, but, as he had never been put under a spell like that before, he didn't know how it felt like. Now that he was under it, he knew that it was a very good feeling...  
  
He was floating in midair while the person was taking him into the castle. Only after several minutes did Harry understand that the person who was carrying him with the spell was actually John Niffler. His mind started to work again, though not as good as usual. He was gaining power again, but the Mobilicorpus spell managed to stop him from moving too much. It was hard to move while affected by that spell, because there seemed to be no gravity.  
  
Harry was being magically dragged to the Hospital Wing, that was for sure. Because he started thinking, the first thing he asked himself was the obvious one: What happened?  
  
That was one unanswered question.  
  
The second thing was, did it have anything to do with the Death Eater? There was no alternative, only the Death Eater could have done that. But from what happened lately, it could have been anything...  
  
That was two unanswered questions.  
  
And the list could continue, but he tried to relax and think about something else. But what else could he think about, in a moment like that? Then the next question came to his mind: What spell was casted on him? That was clearly something else than a Memory Charm, not light, neither dark. It was something different... something he had never felt before.  
  
Harry payed a little attention around him, and saw that they were closing to the Hospital Wing. The door swung open with a weak sound, and Niffler told Madam Pomfrey that he foud Harry lying on the grass out of the castle, after about one hour of waiting for him to arrive on the Quidditch Pitch.  
  
One hour!!! Harry didn't realize how fast time passed while he was thoughtless. Even when he was trying to remember of the things that happened, he couldn't remember anything else than seeing the moon... well, that was all that happened so he had nothing to think about...  
  
Harry was starting to feel stronger, and he wanted to tell Niffler and Madam Pomfrey exactly what happened. But he decided to wait and see what was going to happen next. He wished Cho was there to bring him comfort... and a little enlightment because she surely would have had lots of ideas about what happened.  
  
Madam Pomfrey was exactly as usual: quick and quiet. She didn't say anything except telling Niffler to get out of the Hospital, because he was 'disturbing her patients'. She went to another patient and gave him a bright greenish potion to drink, and then she came to Harry. Harry was very disturbed when he saw the scene where loads of smoke came out of the mouth of the drinker.  
  
"What happened?" the nurse asked Harry, hoping that he was able to say something.  
  
"I don't know that," Harry answered, "but everything comes back to normal... I feel as usual now."  
  
She walked to another room and soon after, she came back carrying a very large transparent bottle which had inscripted on it, 'DoubleM Potion'. Hary wondered what she was going to give him to drink, and saw that she wasn't carrying that potion for Harry. She took it to another student who stood in the bed just near his own.  
  
"Drink that," she said, and the student opened his mouth. She filled a small glass with an incoloured liquid from the DoubleM Potion bottle. And after that, she drained the glass's contents on his neck.  
  
Besides that it seemed to taste very bad, according to the face the student had while he drinked the potion, Harry was sure that he wouldn't want to test it. After he drank it, the student started floating in midair and he seemed to take a very high speed before starting to fly in every part of the room. Harry thought he had lost his mind, and that he had hallucinations; he could never have thought that Pomfrey would have administered something like that to a student... but still, she did, and what was that potion?  
  
"Now, Potter," she said, turning to Harry, and looking in his green eyes, "How are you feeling? Anything hurts?"  
  
"No, I am just fine... I guess it was a curse, but its effects passed now."  
  
"Just wait a minute," she said, rushing to the room next to the hospital, and then Harry was relieved to see that it wasn't a DoubleM potion. She came back with a red potion, and said, "Drink this, Potter, and then you may go."  
  
"I feel alright -- " said Harry thinking of what he just saw with the other patient, but --  
  
"Just drink it!"  
  
Harry had no alternative than to do so. He reminded himself that not all potions did what the DoubleM Potion did, and knew that he could drink it safely.  
It was not bad at all -- just a little refreshing. There was nothing to be scared of.  
  
"You may go now, Potter," Madam Pomfrey said while turning to the flying patient who stopped again, frozen, on his bed. Harry didn't want to see the following scene, and got out of the room as quickly as possible. And, where could he go then? Should he go and tell Ron and Hermione about it? Or was talking to Dumbledore a better solution?  
  
He decided to try the last one because Dumbledore always gave Harry a good advice, so he hurried to his office again. He told the Gargoyle the 'Canary Creams' password, and went upstairs on the circular staircase. The door stood in front of him, and he knocked twice, but no one answered.  
  
He knocked again, but he still didn't have any answer.  
  
There was no one in the office, so he decided to go to his bedroom, thinking that he would visit Dumbledore the next day. It was not that late to go to bed, even if Harry supposed that he stood frozen on the cold grass for at least two hours(Except of the hour he sat on the cold grass, it surely took another hour for everything else). He ignored everyone in the Common Room, even Ron and Hermione who were very anxious to listen what he did at the Quidditch practice, and then he walked in the dormitory to throw himself on his four-poster, thinking about the spell that made his body feel so heavy and his mind so... thoughtless.  
When he woke up the next day, he couldn't not remember the problems he had the last evening. He looked around and saw that everyone in the dormitory was still fast asleep. Harry went to bed quite early that night, and that meant he woke up before he had to.  
  
But he was not sleepy at all. Even if there was another hour until the time everyone woke usually, he didn't want to stay on his bed all morning. He stood on his feet and started thinking about what he could do next; he decided to leave everything else for another time... it wasn't the time to think about the Imperius, Fudge, the Death Eater... he just wanted his life to be as normal as any other student's was... if it was possible.  
  
But it wasn't. He could do nothing to make his life better, because he was too famous, and Lord Voldemort was still trying to kill him. But Harry summoned a little courage, if he managed to escape that many times, he would do it again the next time, wouldn't he?  
  
He put on his robes, and walked out of the quiet dormitory. The Common room was empty, too, and there was no fire lit in the fireplace. He started thinking on what he could do for an hour.  
  
There seemed to be nothing to do, at least nothing to do at that time in the morning. He had to talk to many people, but he was sure that none was avalabile at that time. The first one was Niffler, because they had to talk about the next -- or, better said, first -- Quidditch Practice. Then, he wanted to talk to Dumbledore, because he was the only wizard who was able to explain, or guess, the situation and the new threat. The third was Cho, because he just felt that she seemed to be interrested in the Dark Wizard walking in the castle, and she might would have found out something that Harry didn't know.  
  
The sun outside was shining brightly; it made him walk out of the Gryffindor Tower, then downstairs, and right out of the castle.  
  
He looked around, being enchanted by the warm atmosphere. It was quite cold the past few days, and the warmth the sun gave was quite refreshing. Harry walked a few steps and realized that he was in the same place where he was the last day when he was attacked.  
  
Alarmed, he ran out of that place, only by instinct; it seemed stupid to think that the Death Eater would be exactly at the same place where he was the day before.  
  
Harry saw the giant squid floating on the water. Looking at it, he saw that it didn't look like it would want to attack anyone, quite contrary, it looked quite friendly.  
  
The water in the lake was very clear; Harry could see at a quite far distance through it. The giant squid left the warm air and sank deep in the much colder water, and Harry watched it swim for a few minutes until it sank so deep that he couldn't see it anymore.  
  
Harry was just near the shore, looking a the wonderful sight. He sat on the grass, looking at the water which was disturbed by a fish that came to the surface.  
  
He remembered the last time when he sat near the lake -- after the Quidditch Cup. Exactly as the last time, he started to think about lots of different things... This place was a good one to concentrate on what to do in order to defend himself about possible attacks... His brain seemed to work better when he was sitting near the lake...  
  
There was one more thing that he thought were good things to do -- he considered reading the Dark Book of Dark Arts to prepare himself against every spell listed in the book. That was because, as the supposed Moody said, he never knew what the enemy would be trying. And being prepared against everything was a good start.  
  
After a while, he decided to go back to the castle because the breakfast was to begin at any moment, and he didn't want to miss it; he was quite hungry after not eating almost anything the last day. And there he would talk to both Dumbledore and Niffler... but what about Cho?  
  
He didn't feel like leaving the very pleasant spot where he was on, but he had no other choice. He left the lake behind, and the warm atmosphere with it... he hoped it would be the same next day...  
  
If there would be a next day.  
  
Stepping into the Great Hall, he saw that there were only a few students already inside; and that meant he went quite early. It was too late to go back to the lake, anyway.  
  
Unfortunately, neither Ron nor Hermione arrived yet, so he had nothing else to do than to wait. He took a seat at the Gryffindor table, looking at Dumbledore who had just come into the hall. When should Harry go and talk to the headmaster?  
  
After Ron and Hermione arrived, Harry remembered that he didn't tell them what happened the previous day, due to his quite bad state. He had to do it now, and seeing Ron's and Hermione's interrested expresions, he started explaining everything. Starting with the curse that was casted on him, he advanced on telling then about how he sat there one hour, about the strange potion Madam Pomfrey administered to a student, about his intentions to talk to Dumbledore and Niffler... basically everything.  
  
"You say that he casted a curse that made you weaker?" asked Ron.  
  
"Yes," Harry answered, looking up at the sky outside.  
  
"You should go and read about this curse," Hermione suggested. Ron didn't look like he liked the suggestion, but Harry agreed. There was no better thing to do, after all. He decided that he would spend the entire evening reading that Dark Book of Dark Arts, because he didn't feel like practicing Quidditch that day. They would start another time.  
  
The classes seemed to pass very slow when waiting for the evening to come. He was anxious to read more from the book, and he asked himself why. He usually wasn't attracted by books, but this one was special... This book could decide his entire future...  
  
When the time had come at last, he took the book to the Gryffindor Common Room. Hermione was quite interrested, too, but Ron thought it was better to hear everything from Harry and Hermione.  
  
Reading, Harry realized that it felt as he read it all before. But that was impossible -- he never read something like that. Still, everything was so familiar...  
  
He reminded himself that he had been given extra memories... it was that spell, of course... why hadn't he thought about that? How could have he forgotten it? Was someone playing with his mind again?  
  
Of course he was... The Death Eater wouldn't give up that easily. He decided that the next day he should try to talk to Cho, he just felt like he had to talk to her -- it was as if someone told him that Cho knew something...  
  
He just hoped it wasn't the Memory-Modifier spell, Addictus Memoriae...  
  
He knew by then that he was affected by a Weakness Curse. It was a very strong one, and made every part of Harry's body give up on anything. His muscles and bones didn't bother making him stay on his feet, and his brain hadn't considered thinking anymore.  
  
Reading that book had one very bad effect. Harry realized how bad the danger he was in could be; he read about spells he had never thought of before, like the Blug curse, which did a terrible thing to a person: it blowed someone up and all the flesh pieces of the victim turned into evil, ferocious magical slugs that could bite.  
  
Another thing he had not felt sure about was something strange with the Dark Book. At its end, there were a few pages; and Harry felt that it was hiding something. He tried many things to make the writing show up, but with no effect; he even tried to write in it as he did with Tom Riddle's diary. But, still, no effect.  
  
That night he couldn't fall asleep very easy, with all the thoughts whirling inside his heavy head. Every single event that happened before was haunting him... and after that he even imagined himself go dark -- but no, he would never do that.  
  
He had imagined himself a dark wizard quite a few times by then. He wondered why that happened to him -- he just couldn't think of himself evil, not at all. And he was sure that those thoughts were stupid; what could have turned him evil? Evil, as Voldemort himself is, the wizard Harry hates so much because he killed his parents? Could he go the same path Voldemort went on? 


	11. Dark Thoughts

Chapter 11: Dark Thoughts  
  
The next days he woke up in the same mood as he was in the evening when he read from the Dark Book. He tried many spells and ways to make the text show up; but with no effect. He wondered why did he have that feeling that the book was hiding something? Maybe it was nothing out of the ordinary with that pages... but still... he didn't know what to think. Listen to his brain or to his feelings? He decided the last one, because it was not the first time when something similar happened... repeating the story with Riddle's Diary in his second year.  
  
And, feeling that bad, he hadn't even thought of talking to Cho these days.  
  
His mood didn't change a bit until Friday. He was in the same bad state, and there were very few things that could turn it any worse -- and Harry encountered one, an unexpected one.  
  
The last class he had on that day was Divination. After he waited a few minutes for Professor Trelawney to show up, a few minutes in which he stood quietly at the same table with Ron, who seemed to have given up in trying to make Harry happier, he heard the mystical voice of the insect-like professor.  
  
"Welcome, dears. Today we will start a more precise branch of future telling, image summoning."  
  
"What?" Ron whispered in Harry's ear, quite loudly, and Trelawney heard him.  
  
"Image summoning, dears!"  
  
Still no one seemed to know what she was talking about.  
  
"It is the way of predicting the future by creating an image of the future -- and project it in the air."  
  
But no one understood much.  
  
"Let me show you," she said, and she took her wand. She closed her huge eyes and concentrated a little, and after that she said, "Projecto!" and pointed her wand on her desk.  
  
Some small figures were moving on the table, they looked like red ghosts -- transparent, but with a very strong red color.  
  
Looking more attentively, Harry saw that one of those forms was a miniature figure of Trelawney. But she had something different -- the figure's hands were holding something -- Harry couldn't realize what that was, due to the small size of the projection.  
  
"Engorgio!" said Harry automatically, his curiosity pushing him to do it. He just wanted to know what Trelawney looked like in that miniature thing that she said that was her future. But Harry knew better than to trust her. Even though she said that this image summoning was a more precise branch of future-telling, he could never believe anything she said. Some of the things she predicted were lucky guesses, but most of them were never happening.  
  
The figure enlarged itself, making the image about four feet tall. It was a lot easier to look at the thing she was holding. Harry's jaw dropped. It was a badge, a badge he had rarely seen before; he read on it:  
  
Sibyll Trelawney,  
  
Order of Merlin,  
  
First class  
  
Ron started lauhghing, and Harry too; Trelawney, to have an order of Merlin??? She was not good at anything, and Harry could not imagine her doing anything to give her an Order of Merlin. Not to speak about a First Class one!!!  
  
She looked at them very annoyed, and said, "Ten points for both of you are taken from Gryffindor for disturbing a class!" Looking at Harry, she said, "And learn to not laugh of a teacher."  
  
After the silence that followed those moments, Ron swore; lucky that the professor didn't hear it. They had just lost twenty points from Gryffindor!  
  
Turning to the rest of the class, she continued her boring useless lesson. Lavender and Parvati were listening carefully, but none other seemed to be interrested.  
  
"This spell is very complicated to do," she started. "It needs a great Inner Eye to be done correctly."  
  
"No wonder why she can't do anything good," whispered Ron in Harry's ear.  
  
"I do not think that any of you will be able to do it in the first class. You should concentrate on a thing that you will like to see how it will look like in the future, and when your Inner Eye is all set and fixed, you will cast the Projecto spell.  
  
"Who wants to try it the first?" she asked. Lavender raised her hand up. "Mrs. Brown," she said, and made a sign with her hands that told Lavender to go in the front of the room. "Remember? Concentrate, and Projecto!"  
  
Lavender closed her eyes, waited for a few minutes until her mind was clear and not thinking about everything else, and then she whispered, "Projecto!"  
  
But nothing happened. Trelawney nodded and told her that it was quite good for the first time.  
  
Seamus came next, still nothing happened; then Dean, and then Parvati. Harry fell asleep again in the class, and Ron had to tell him that only Dean managed to make a yellow image get out from his wand, but it vanished in less than a second.  
  
And then Trelawney called, "Mr. Potter!"  
  
Harry raised on his feet and walked to the front of the class. He was sure that everything was just stupid rubbish, but he had to continue for the sake of house points, and of good marks.  
  
He wondered what to try to summon, and he decided to try the same thing that Trelawney did -- he wanted to see him in the future.  
  
Even though he had no belief that he could project an image of the future that would be happenning, he just concentrated on himself after half of an year. He wished to see if he was playing for the Quidditch team... to see what happened with Cho...  
  
His mind was going empty except for the fact of seeing himself in the future. He had the feeling that Trelawney spoke the truth when she said that it was a more precise way of future-telling, so he took it more seriously than he did to the other things he had to make at Divination. It seemed a lot more convincing when he had to do it.  
  
When he was sure that he concentrated enough, he pointed his wand to the floor, and he shouted, "PROJECTO!!!"  
  
He opened his eyes and saw a think green beam emit from the top of his wand. The light was forming a greenish ten-inch figure on the floor. He saw the entire class staring astounded at him -- he was never good at Divination...  
  
The projection was of himself, and small as it was, he could not see anything different with him. What if he would not be a Seeker for England? What if he could never be a more-than-just-friend of Cho's?  
  
Without thinking anything, he pointed his wand at the tiny figure on the floor, and said, "Engorgio!"  
  
He made the figure tall as himself, and staring at the projection, he saw a few small differences between himself and the assumed projection of the future.  
  
He could not believe it. There was a very evil look on his face; he was staring at everyone as if he wanted to kill them; he wore some different robes -- not Hogwarts robes, for sure -- and he seemed to mouth the words, 'Who are you talking about? I know no Harry Potter.'  
  
There was no mistaking it. Unbelievalbe as it was, it was the dark version of himself. He didn't want to look at it, seeing how he said that he didn't know about Harry Potter -- that meant that he wanted to forget all his previous life and start a new, Voldemort-like, one.  
  
Parvati and Lavender stared between the figure and himself for some time, horrified. They wanted to leave their seats and go out of the classroom, but Trelawney didn't allow them to leave.  
  
They seemed to be the only ones terrified about that; no one actually believed anything that they saw in that class. As precise as it was, that spell couldn't actually tell Harry's future. Maybe tell his fate, yes; but Harry did not believe in that, and he knew he could overpower it.  
  
He would never go evil.  
  
It took several minutes until someone managed to break the hurting silence. "I - I think it was -- enough for today, dears," Trelawney said. She seemed to desire that Harry would leave faster. If there was anyone who believed that except for Parvati and Lavender, that was Trelawney, who became scared of Harry from that day.  
  
When he and Ron climbed down the staircase that led to her classroom, they started talking.  
  
"The image was really shocking," said Harry, horrified that it may become true.  
  
"Oh, Harry! How can you ever believe something like that? You know how true they turn out to be --"  
  
"No, Ron; This time there is something different..."  
  
"Still, why so pessimistic?"  
  
That was a hard-to-answer question. If someone told him before that he would be that scared of something that he predicted in a Divination lesson, he would have laughed loud -- but that turned out to be true and disturbing.  
  
And then, he asked himself, why to believe that? And why to be scared of it? It was only a Divination class, after all! Nothing anymore than stupid guesses...  
  
"Ron," Harry decided to say, "This is not the first time when I see myself a dark wizard..." Ron's attention solely turned to Harry, making him forget about one trick stair that was in everyone's -- except Neville's -- instinct. "I had the feeling that I would go dark a few times before... the image just keeps popping into my mind... and now I guess it'll turn even worse."  
  
That was enough to shut Ron up until they met Hermione. Harry told her the same story, and she seemed to be even less frightened than Ron was. She gave up on Divination believing that it was a too stupid object, and she could never believe something like that.  
  
But when Harry told her that he had that feeling lots of times before, she didn't take the idea that easily. That was not one of Trelawney's predictions, and it was a lot easier to believe something that had nothing to do with Divination.  
  
Harry was very sure that it was a natural feeling, and not the result of a dark spell. The memories the Death Eater had given to him felt like he knew those things since he was born, but no; these didn't. And the first time he had pictured himself dark was in the summer, before Voldemort sent anyone to attack Harry...  
  
Indeed, it was a bad thing. They had nothing to do, and Harry was sick of going to the Common Room after classes. He decided to go and talk to Niffler, so he set off to the entreacne hall, to get out of the castle and talk to the captain.  
  
And on the stairs, he saw one person coming out from the dungeon, and the person seemed to want to meet Harry. It was Cho herself. Harry felt like a stone was taken off from his heart; he waited for a moment to talk to Cho for a long time.  
  
"Harry! Harry!" she said, and hurried towards him. "I've found a thing!"  
  
Harry remained like petrified. His feeling turned out to be true; she indeed found something about the Death Eater.  
  
"I heard Malfoy talk about his father today at lunch. He was telling his sidekicks about you. Just after the lunch was over, he was whispering to them, and I had hidden myself under a table -- You-Know-Who's second in command was sent to kill you..."  
  
"I already knew that, the dream, remember?"  
  
"Oh right -- but that's not all. He said something like 'He sent someone so high in the Ministry'. Can you guess who that is?"  
  
It was no good clue for Harry. The only thing he could do about it was to ask Arthur Weasley about who disappeared from the Ministry -- what person. It was pity that Harry didn't know many people from the Ministry.  
  
"And they said something about the spells they are going to use on you," she said, this time her voice started trembling. She paused a few soconds, looking frightened straight into Harry's eyes. Even though the news were that bad, his heart gave a jolt when she looked in his eyes.  
  
"What spells?" asked Harry.  
  
"Loads of dark spells I heard -- that memory spell, for one... and, er... a very strong dark freezing spell -- I heard its effects are like the petrification's, except that your body gets cold. And you... die, after a while, that is."  
  
Harry remembered that spell; it was one of the spells he had read from the Dark Book of Dark Arts. But one thing was haunting Harry more than ever.  
  
"Did they say anything about me getting dark?" he asked.  
  
Cho didn't seem to like picturing Harry dark either. And then, she answered, "I haven't heard... only one more thing." She stopped, and when Harry mouthed the 'what' word, she continued, "The Shadow of Darkness."  
  
But that was something with no meaning for Harry. "The what?"  
  
"Shadow of Darknes... Malfoy said it is a strong dark spell, but he said that his father didn't tell him what its effects were."  
  
That hit Harry with a little shock -- he had never read about that spell in the Dark Book, even though he read every single page of the book. Except...  
  
The blank pages!  
  
Those erased pages from the Dark Book of Dark Arts had to hide information about the Shadow of Darkness. But what was it? There was only one way to find out, and even that was improbable --  
  
"I should go ask Dumbledore," said Harry fast. He was trying to remember anything about that spell. He knew there was something familiar about that name -- but then there came the memory modifications that could introduce that in his mind... or maybe it wasn't; he knew that Voldemort transferred a few of his powers into Harry when his curse was reflected.  
  
Harry told her that he wanted to go and see Niffler, and then he told her about his new worries. He felt like spilling his thoughts to someone -- but he wondered why he hadn't even asked himself if it was safe to tell Cho things like that.  
  
Harry didn't even realize that they were heading to Niffler's settlement. He was telling Cho about the Divination class he had only a few minutes ago when he realized where they were.  
  
"Oh..." he said, more to himself, but Cho got the idea.  
  
"Well, I think I should go back, no? Maybe Niffler won't like me around --"  
  
"There is no problem with that," came Niffler's voice, who just stepped out of the door.  
  
Harry and Cho jumped -- they weren't expecting that. They started to laugh ('Look why we get scared!'), and then Cho told Niffler, "Thank you, sir".  
  
"There's no problem," he repeated, and invited them inside.  
  
As they stepped into the large house, Harry was suddenly attracted by the beautiful rooms. Compared to these rooms, those in the Hogwarts Castle were nothing; the walls were quite similar; the same color, the same material, the same lighting; they couldn't see the ceiling in some places, either because it was too high, either because the halls were dimly lit.  
  
Harry saw how big the house was from the outside, but from inside it looked extremely huge. From the main hall, loads of doors were leading to the other team members's rooms. They seemed to be big, too.  
  
The windows were large, positioned quite high -- and even though they looked great, Harry couldn't imagine how sunlight could enlighten the everything. Of course, that was easily explained by the large number of torches that were regularily placed on the walls.  
  
Niffler led them in the halls until they reached the greatest door of all. It had a gold locker, and there was a stone ferocious animal carved from it -- a manticore.  
  
"Come in, come in," he said and then the three of them went in that room. Harry was sure that if that was NIffler's room, he chould be extremely rich. And thinking again, he surely was; his name, Niffler, fit perfectly; Nifflers were used to detect buried gold, Hagrid showed them a few only the last year. "Take a seat..."  
  
They sat on some very comfortable sofas. The material they were made from was very good at touch, and it was keeping warm, too.  
  
"What brought you here today?" he asked.  
  
"I was thinking of a little Quidditch practice," answered Harry, who was still admiring the room. He was looking at the distinguishable ceiling that was supported by a few high pillars.  
  
"Oh... quidditch... Yes, that would be a good idea... When?"  
  
"I was thinking of today," said Harry, knowing that he would have no chance to go unannounced and then go to Quidditch. He looked so stupid. He should have informed Niffler one day before.  
  
"The team is free to practice at anytime," said Niffler, and that took Harry with a big surprise. "It's a nice time for Quidditch, I'd say... And what about you, Miss Chang? I heard you are on the Quidditch team too -- you are playing for Ravenclaw?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, let's let Harry decide what you will do. That way it will be fair, no?"  
  
Both Cho and Niffler looked at Harry, waiting for his answer. He wasn't sure of what to do himself. He wanted Cho to stay there, he really did; but she was going to get bored just watching them. And there was a strange tone in Niffler's voice when he asked her if she was playing for Ravenclaw; a tone that just gave Harry an idea... but he didn't think that Niffler would accept it...  
  
He thought of asking Cho to join them in the practice.  
  
Niffler wouldn't accept that. But still, he said that it was Harry's decision... or Maybe she wouldn't want that?  
  
"Come with us," Harry said, "And I will think on the way to the pitch." Niffler nodded, and the three of them walked again through the large hall, Niffler gathered the rest of the team and they went out of the house.  
  
They were getting closer and closer to their destination, but Harry still couldn't decide on what to do about Cho. He didn't feel like saying anything about that matter, because he couldn't find the words for it -- everything was so confusing.  
  
They finally reached the stadium, and Harry didn't manage to decide anything. When Niffler and Cho asked him what he thought, he remained without words to say -- and then he said it, without wanting to do so.  
  
"Would you like to come and fly, too?" he asked Cho. Harry saw Niffler grinning a little. Harry was relieved to see that no one complained anything, and Cho said, "Thanks!"  
  
"But keep in mind that we are here to train Harry, not you, Miss Chang."  
  
Harry summoned his own broom, and when Cho wanted to take hers, Niffler stopped her and took a Firebolt. "If you are going to stay with us, we will make sure that it will be the most comfortable."  
  
The practice wasn't too different from the normal Quidditch practices they did for the Gryffindor team. The main difference was that they were advancing faster between moves, and sometimes Harry's head had begun spinning fast, lost between revising what he had just heard and memorising the new ones. Cho was making her own tries at the moves, and she was doing quite well; and that was the first time when he felt that Cho shouldn't be there -- they might lose the House Cup if Cho learnt too much...  
  
But, that would be fairer; in that way Harry would have no huge advantage in playing for England and in learning more good moves -- very advanced moves, in fact -- they would see the skills they had at chasing the Snitch and avoiding Bludgers. That was if he didn't take into account that Cho had a much slower broom than he had.  
  
Even though he had flown for more than two hours, he couldn't realize it. Time seemed to pass very fast when he was on a broomstick, and with the new moves the other players and Niffler taught him, he felt like it was his only world. Not to forget that Cho was there, sometimes talking to Niffler things that Harry couldn't hear, sometimes practicing her own. They even did a contest of who catches the Snitch faster -- and no wonder who managed to win it. Harry was a much better seeker than Cho was.  
  
The practice ended too fast for Harry("We're leaving already?"), and they had to say good-bye to Niffler and the rest of the Quidditch team. They decided that they would practise again on Monday.  
  
On the way back to the castle, Harry told Cho about every single thing that made him feel like he would be going to be a dark wizard. Lucky that Cho always seemed to know words to comfort him...  
  
"You won't turn evil," she told him when he finished retelling the divination class.  
  
"I will... everything points--"  
  
"Do you want to turn evil?" she asked him.  
  
"Well, of course not," Harry answered without knowing what she wanted to say.  
  
"Then you won't... if you don't want it, you won't... Everything you do is your will, and only your will."  
  
"Except the times when someone forces me --"  
  
"No, Harry. Even if someone uses an Imperius on you, or a memory modification spell, you aren't dark... you are not dark until you do it from your own will."  
  
That was true... "Yes... you're right..." Cho smiled at him, and she immediately changed the subject, because even though she convinced him that he won't turn dark, the idea of seeing himself like that was still shocking and quite convincing.  
  
"So what about your research in the Death Eater's work? Haven't you noticed anything?"  
  
Harry started to think about that. No, he did not find anything that could help him... He didn't like to say it, but he couldn't tell a lie either, so he answered, "Nothing..."  
  
"The only thing left is to find out what the Shadow of Darkness is..." she said, at the same time as Harry pushed the entrance doors open.  
  
"Well I guess that'll be a problem." Harry paused to think, and then he reminded himself of Dumbledore -- he could know it... or maybe Snape, because he was a Death Eater... there were more persons who could possibly know about the spell.  
  
They soon had to go their separate ways, and Harry headed to the Gryffindor Tower. There was only one thing he could not get out of the head... would he turn evil or not? Everything that pointed that he was going to be like Voldemort was quite convincing... but he didn't want to turn dark, he just didn't... and he wouldn't accept it... Cho was right, after all.  
  
In the Common Room, Harry told Ron and Hermione about the things that happened.  
  
"We should go to the library," Hermione told him, "It's the only place where we can find about the Shadow of Darkness. I haven't ever heard of that spell myself... I guess you won't find it in the most books... but there have to be some books that have at least a little bit of information about a spell. We only need one thing."  
  
Harry knew what that thing was. "Permission to go to the restricted section..."  
  
"Exactly."  
  
Ron didn't like going to the library too much, but this time he had nothing to object. Instead, he asked, "So, when should we go?"  
  
"Now," said Hermione.  
  
"NOW?" Ron blowed up. "Oh c'mon, Hermione, give me a break --"  
  
"The faster, the better. And it's not late yet...", said Hermione, and Harry seemed to agree with her. "Let's go..."  
  
Hermione pushed the portrait open, and she went out of the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry came just after her, and after some time, Ron went out, too... he didn't want to leave them alone.  
  
They didn't have a permission to go to the restricted section, but Hermione said that they didn't need it that day; because the allowed section was huge anyway.  
  
They looked for hours, taking different types of books, starting with those on ancient spells, and ending with books about dark wizards, but with no result.  
  
"Very rare spell, this shadow of darkness," said Ron. "It's no use searching --"  
  
"You never know," Hermione said stopping him.  
  
"Or maybe Malfoy just said that to make us look for something that doesn't exist --"  
  
Hermione was shut up by those words, but Harry immediately found proof for the contrary. "Well, it was Cho who heard him... and Malfoy didn't know that Cho was going to tell us. Not to forget that he didn't see her..."  
  
But Ron didn't give up. "Maybe Cho lies --"  
  
Harry felt like slapping Ron, and he didn't know why. He just didn't like anyone saying something bad about Cho. And as he went closer to Ron, a voice stopped them.  
  
"I don't."  
  
It was Cho.  
  
"I've been looking for anything about this spell, too.", she said, looking at Harry. "But I didn't find anything."  
  
"Neither did us," Ron added.  
  
"We shouldn't give up... there must be something about this... maybe in the restricted section. And that won't be a problem... If I'll ask Flitwick, he will allow us to continue our search there... he always allows me to go there."  
  
Harry seemed very astounded. "Why?"  
  
"Well, Hermione isn't the only one very good at school."  
  
"Well, we'll talk after you ask Flitwick..."  
  
"Tomorrow is saturday. We'll met at twelve o'clock, here. Everything will be set... So much for hard-to-find spells."  
  
"Okay, then... see you tomorrow," said Harry.  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione went to the common room, taking guesses about what the spell could be. They spent their entire evening like that, and Harry didn't give a thought about what happened until he went to his four-poster bed.  
  
He decided that everytime he was with Cho he forgot about everything else. This time he walked to Niffler's house without realizing... he didn't even feel the nervousness he felt before that evening when he was supposed to practise for the first time. It was her who managed to make him forget about his worries; she told them that if he didn't want to be evil, he wouldn't be; and she was completely right.  
  
Now she started helping them with lots of things... she became interrested in Harry's worries... but was she interrested only in the danger?  
  
Could she possibly like him?  
  
That brought him the memory of Cedric. He kept wondering how it would be if Cedric would still be alive... it was very hard to picture the possibility because Harry didn't know him too well -- and Cho didn't talk about him at all. Not one word. 


	12. Find the Shadow

Chapter 12: Find the Shadow  
  
The next day, he woke up early in the morning again. His mind was on Cho, and on the fact that she wanted to help him with his search on the Shadow of Darkness. But now that he had woken up, he couldn't fall asleep again, he was not sleepy at all. His eyelids fought to stay open, so he decided to do as his body wanted and stay awake. But it was too early to do anything yet -- everyone was sleeping at that time...  
  
He looked out of the window. The sun was shining on the sky, and Harry guessed that it was not even seven o'clock yet. He had two more hours until classes would start. So what could he do in this time?  
  
It was only one place he could remember, a place that he liked spending hours at. He went out of the Gryffindor tower, on his way to the Hogwarts Grounds, thinking about spending his morning near the lake.  
  
His worries were becoming less painful and haunting that morning... He was sure that he and Cho could find information about the Shadow of Darkness... It was no doubt in saying that she was smarter than Hermione, because she was in Ravenclaw, and that was a good thought...  
  
As he was going downstairs, the silence was disturbed by a small movement that seemed close. Not more than five seconds passed until Harry found himself facing Snape himself... Having a talk with Snape was enough to destroy a pleasant morning, so he just decided to Ignore him and go downstairs. He had no idea of inventing an excuse for walking on the corridors before students were allowed.  
  
"Potter..."  
  
But Harry did as he planned, and didn't pay attention to Snape, trying to leave him behind.  
  
"Potter, this is enough! Come with me!"  
  
But, even though he didn't know why, Harry continued ignoring Snape and acting like Snape was invisible.  
  
"Right. You may pack, Potter, I'll make sure that you'll be expelled! I've got TWO reasons to do so... not to forget all the rulebreaking you did in your previous years..."  
  
Harry wanted to stop and talk to Snape, but a part of him decided to go to the lake. It didn't feel like any dark spell that told him to go -- he got used with the feeling by then -- more than once did he feel like he was controlled by something stronger than an Imperius, but he managed to fight it. This time he couldn't...  
  
He heard Snape leaving the staircases and going to a hall that lead to Dumbledore's office, but by that time, Harry left the stairs heading to the Entrance Hall.  
  
He slowly walked to the lake, looking at the bringht sun that was shining proudly in the sky. It was the end of September, and even though the winter was closing, it was not cold outside yet; though it was colder than the previous days. The grass on the grounds was starting to wither.  
  
The only thing that remained the same, except the castle building, was the lake. It was the same wonderful water that reflected everything and the same place where Harry could relax and wait for hours without realizing how the time passed.  
  
He sat on the grass near the lake and just looked at the castle, looking for any sign of movement. But nothing was disturbing the silence around it; the only sound Harry could hear was the water moving. Not any sign of wind, not even an animal moving in the Forbidden Forest...  
  
His mind immediately went to the Shadow of Darkness again.  
  
He couldn't decide what that spell was, mainly because he knew nothing about it... except the fact that the name sounded extremely familiar. He felt like the information about the spell was sitting on his tongue, ready to be said, but on the other part, they weren't even close.  
  
And the fact that it was not mentioned in any book could mean only three things: either it didn't exist, it was so old that everyone forgot about it or maybe it was too evil for anyone to write and they wanted to hide it.  
  
After giving a thought about every possibility, he thought he could never get it -- not alone, not with any help from his friends. He would need some help from outside, like Dumbledore... or...  
  
Sirius!  
  
Harry hadn't written to Sirius for a long time, and he was the best to ask about the Shadow of Darkness from all the people he knew... Harry didn't know why, but he felt like Dumbledore would not know anything about the spell --  
  
His mind immediately stopped from thinking that. What could have made him think that Dumbledore didn't know it? Asking him was surely the best option there was.  
  
The next ten minutes he kept arguing with another part of himself about who he would ask -- and then he decided that it was the best thing if he would ask both Dumbledore and Sirius... but that was after he finished searching the restricted section, that was for sure. He intended to find it himself, and only with a little help from his friends.  
  
At last, after staying near the lake for about an hour, he heard something moving.  
  
He had frozen -- what if it was the Death Eater again? He had no protection, and he didn't have his -- or better said, Avery's -- invisibility cloak with him...  
  
Just praying that it was nothing bad, and that it was just a bird, Harry slowly turned his head back.  
  
"Harry!" he heard a surprised voice.  
  
"Cho!" he answered, assuring himself that it was nothing to be scared about. This reminded him of the summer, when something similar happened but the person who frightened him was Dumbledore.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Cho asked.  
  
"Well, just woke up a bit earlier today..."  
  
"Do you have any idea why Snape is that angry? I've met him and he seemed so angry... hurried through the corridors, he did."  
  
Harry was looking at Cho with a guilty face.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"Well, it's me why he's so angry."  
  
"Oh," she said, her voice fading a bit. SHe paused to think, and then continued, "What did you do this time, rulebreaker?"  
  
"It's pretty obvious," Harry answered, "He found me on the stairs this morning."  
  
"Well, if it was morning, well there is no rule about not walking on the corridors in the morning..." she said, looking at Harry, who didn't answer. "Or... was it something else?"  
  
Harry didn't want to tell her that he ignored Snape when he told him to stop, but after a few seconds, he gave up keeping it secret and told her the whole story.  
  
They sat together and looked at the lake, and both of them enjoyed it. And another question popped in Harry's mind...  
  
"And what are you doing here?" he asked.  
  
"Oh, well, I use to come here most of the days... I don't come here only when there is something stopping me." She then looked at Harry, and he understood that she came here because she liked the same feeling he got everytime he went to the lake and sat in fromt of him. "I like it very much," she added a little seconds after.  
  
"Yes, I guess I know what you mean," said Harry.  
  
Both of them enjoyed their little time near the lake, and when the time had come so they had to go to the Great Hall for breakfast, they walked to the castle, talking about the lake. Harry found out that Cho started visiting the lake in her third year, and then Cho brought, for the first time in that year, about Cedric.  
  
"I used to meet him in this place sometimes," Cho said. "Last year... I spent many mornings with him near this lake... He used to have the same feeling when he came to the lake and watched the small waves done by the giant squid forming in its middle..."  
  
Bringing the subject of Cedric brought back Harry's guilt about his death. He had forgotten him lately completely, but now the feeling was back. Despite Harry's mood, Cho didn't look sad when she talked about Cedric. That confused Harry a bit. If he felt bad because Cedric died, why would Cho not feel as he did?  
  
That made Harry feel like asking her if she missed Cedric. But, when he gave a second thought about it, it looked the most stupid thing he ever considered saying.  
  
They parted when they came in the Great Hall, because they had to go to their different house tables. They agreed that they would meet after the breakfast and that she would go and ask Flitwick if he could give permossions to four students. Even though it seemed a bit ridiculous, Cho just kept assuring Harry that there would be no problem in getting them.  
  
When Harry found his usual seat near Ron and Hermione, and both of them gave him a suspicious stare. Being looked at as if he were forbidden to enter the Great Hall, he asked his friends, "What?"  
  
Ron and Hermione looked at each other. They nodded, and then asked, "What were you diong with Cho at this time?"  
  
"Er -- Nothing. We just met at the lake... didn't feel like sleeping and then I -- I met her there." Unfortunately, Neither Ron nor Hermione seemed to believe him. "Oh come on! Why would I lie to you?"  
  
"Well, there may be reasons," answered Hermione.  
  
"Well, there is nothing now." Seeing that Ron and Hermione still thought that he wasn't telling the truth, he tried to change the subject, and whispered, "Well, everything's set up. We'll meet Cho after we eat and then she will manage to get four permissions, for all of us. We'll find out what the Shadow of Darkness is, no matter what."  
  
"I hope so," said Ron.  
  
The breakfast seemed so long when Harry just wanted it to end. He couldn't not accept that he half wanted it only to meet Cho, but his primaty desire was to find what the Shadow of Darkness was. He told himself that, anyway, he would go to the lake the next morning, too.  
  
"What did you do at the lake with Cho?" asked Ron.  
  
"Talked."  
  
"Well, ok," said Ron but with a voice that told Harry that he was unsure of that.  
  
"Don't believe me if you don't want to," said Harry. He wasn't hiding anything, why would he do it? And why did Ron think that Harry didn't tell the truth?  
  
"Oh come on, Harry," said Ron, "We know you like Cho -- it's obvious --"  
  
"I did not deny that, know that I never did. But, damn it, Ron, Understand that we did nothing except than talked! She isn't my girlfriend!"  
  
Seeing that ron still didn't seem to beliebve him, Harry got a bit angry and took his wand, not knowing what he was doing. "Serpensortia," he whispered, and then a huge snake was created by the wand, doing a back flip in the air. Almost everyone's vision turned to Harry and the snake. Ron's face immediately showed a look of terror, watching the snake cautiously. He seemed lost, that was Harry's time of setting the snake on him --  
  
What was he doing?  
  
That was the first question he asked himself.  
  
He didn't want to attack Ron, or did he? Of course he didn't. That felt the most strange of all -- how could he WANT to attack Ron, without the familiar -- by now -- feeling of being controlled by somebody?  
  
That was impossible. He still felt like telling the snake to attack Ron -- but all he told the snake was, "Wait." He had to fight himself before telling the snake to attack or to stay -- he had enough time.  
  
When he convinced himself that Ron wsan't an enemy, and that he was his friend -- his BEST friend actually -- he told the snake, "Get out of the Hall and live in the forest until the spell effects are diminished." That was all he could say, not knowing a good snake-killing spell.  
  
The thing that gave everyone a chill on their spine was the fact that in the way of going out of the castle, the snake had to pass right near Ron. Some teachers went forward to finish the snake but Dumbledore stopped them. He seemed to know what the snake was going to do.  
  
Everyone's terror slowly faded off when the snake was heading to the double doors. After it exited the Great Hall, Harry started thinking of what he did. That was surely going to make him a lot of trouble. Almost attacking a student was not good at all, and lucky that he didn't tell the snake to do anything to ron more than hiss -- that couldn've expelled him with no comment.  
  
But, still, in his heart, he still felt like wanting to do something to Ron. Being able to control himself, he sat on the chair, while everyone was still looking at him as if he was a flesh-eating monster.  
  
Everyone continued their breakfast, the teachers did that too; no one was hurt in that time when Harry seemed to lose himself. "There's something fishy here," Harry could hear Ron whispering to Hermione.  
  
"I know," said Harry while both Ron and Hermione jumped; Harry wasn't supposed to hear that. "You know, Ron, I didn't mean to -- it was like I was controlled by a darker part of myself..." and that was where Harry almost fell down to the floor. It was a very painful feeling, everything that happened lately pointed that he would turn out to be a dark wizard, and when he said about a darker part of himself, everything bad that happened lately in himself seemed to be recalled in his memory.  
  
He forced a sit on the chair.  
  
"No, you're not going to turn dark," he heard a comforting voice from his back. Who other could comfort him better than Cho did?  
  
Harry saw Dumbledore sitting pleased and continuing eating at the staff's table.  
  
"Come, let's go to Flitwick," said Cho, and Harry agreed.  
  
Ron and Hermione looked at each other, nodded to themselves and said that they still hadn't finished breakfast. Harry knew that they didn't do that because of eating -- they didn't seem hungry anyway -- but to give Harry and Cho a few time to spend together.  
  
Harry was starting to get annoyed when he saw that Neither Ron nor Hermione seemed to believe Harry when he said that Cho wasn't his girlfriend. Not that he didn't want her to be...  
  
The both of them went to the staff table, where Flitwick was sitting and waiting for the breakfast to end. Harry let Cho go first, and then Flitwick said, "Good morning, Miss Chang! May I help you?"  
  
"Yes, professor." Harry was praying that all four of them would recieve permissions. "I wanted to ask you if you will allow me, Harry, and his two friends to go to the restricted section." Flitwick looked at Cho quite confused, certainly asking himself what was Cho up to. "We're... looking for a dark spell that can't be found in any book of the normal library."  
  
"If there is nothing about the spell, either it does not exist, Miss Chang, or it is so dark that students shouldn't know of it."  
  
"We need to do it --"  
  
"Maybe only for you, Miss Chang, but it'll be impossible to get you all permissions."  
  
That was not going as Harry wanted it to be, and neither as Cho planned. It was his time to talk, or he would never find anything about the Shadow of Darkness.  
  
"Professor," said Harry a bit more hastily and with a more convincing voice, "I need to know about that spell." Pausing a few seconds, he added, "It's vital."  
  
"Maybe I know about that spell, try me," Flitwick continued.  
  
"The Shadow of Darkness," said Harry even though he didn't want to say it. He wondered what Flitwick would say because he talked as if he was talking to one of the students.  
  
"Ooohhhhh," said Flitwick, thinking. "Hmmmm I don't think I know of any spell like this," he said slowly. "I know how troubled you are, Mr. Potter, Dumbledore told me; for that, I will allow you two to go to the restricted section to start your search. I guess it's no damage if I'll tell Madam Irma Pince that you'll go to the library..."  
  
"But, professor! It'll take the two of us too much time with the search -- Why don't you let Ron and Hermione come too?" asked Harry.  
  
"Well, Mr. Potter, if you really want it that much, I'll do it. Come with me -- I'll talk to Irma personally. Follow me."  
  
Harry called Ron and Hermione and they all followed Flitwick to the library, where Madam Pince was signing something for some new books. He called her, but when he told her that he wanted to allow four students in the restricted section, she jumped like burned.  
  
"Filius, You know we cannot allow all of them in -- for a reason like that!"  
  
"But, Irma, it's very important," said Flitwick, not giving up. "That may be vital to Harry Potter, it is about --"  
  
"Well, well, good, I will let them in. It's not the same as allowing ordinary students in -- one of them is Harry Potter, Mrs. Granger is on top of each class, Mrs. Chang is almost like Mrs. Granger, and... well... their friend, yes, they may go."  
  
Harry couldn't tell how eased he felt when he heard that they were allowed to go to the restricted section of the library -- he felt like hugging Madam Pince and Professor Flitwick because they allowed him to go. Then, together with Hermione, Ron and Cho, he started searching for an unusual book where he could find an unusual spell.  
  
The search didn't start succesful, though Harry told them to not give up; and they didn't complain about that. Harry was sitting on front of a bookshelf, which he wanted to search entirely. Hermione took an entire corner of the library to search in, Cho searched in the entire library for titles that sounded more like the type of the book they were looking for, while Ron was slowly talking a book from a nearby shelf from time to time. But, still, none of them was even close to giving up -- everything was too good now that they were allowed to come in the library.  
  
Everytime they saw any of the words "shadow" and "darkness", they would jump and think that they found it. But, even though they met these words in lots of books, they hadn't seen the words used together. And even though it looked so useless, they still continued searching, and Harry every now and then left his eyes from the books and looked at Cho.  
  
"It is stupid searching for a spell that isn't recorded anywhere -- I bet Malfoy knew everything and sent us wrong information," said Hermione. Harry was very surprised about that, because it was not normal for Hermione to say things like that -- they hadn't searched the entire library yet.  
  
They searched in the library for several hours. They had a break for lunch("At last, I'm starving," said Ron) and then they went back("Oh no!"). Harry didn't want to give up; not now when he managed to enter in the restricted section. Cho seemed to support him, and told Ron to "Just search and keep quiet". Hermione was acting more like usual self now, and didn't say anything about leaving the library.  
  
That day was entirely spent at the library. Being saturday, they had nothing else beter to do, and this was the best thing they could do in the present.  
  
Harry could keep hearing Ron talking to himself and asking what got into him. Harry admitted that it was not his usual self to spend an entire day in the library, but the memories of himself getting dark were very annoying.  
  
"Do you think it is worth spending a few months searching for something that doesn't exist?" asked Ron when it was close to midnight. "This restricted section is... huge!!!"  
  
"More than huge," added Harry, "But this is the only thing we can do now."  
  
Seeing that Harry didn't want to give up, Ron stopped objecting and took a tome from a nearby shelf. But, instead of searching, he was just pretending to do it. Harry didn't want to tell Ron anything bad, to cause him have a bad mood again. It was just that day when Harry almost set a snake on him, and he didn't want to have problems with his friend.  
  
That day passed with no other incident. Ron still didn't want to read anything, and Harry had nothing to say to make him read -- he knew everything he would do would be in vain.  
  
When he was in his bed waiting to fall asleep, he remembered what he proposed that morning. He really felt like writing a letter to Sirius -- he hadn't written anything to Sirius lately anyway, so he just thought about what he could possibly write -- because nothing came to his mind except for the worst things, that would worry Sirius very much. Harry wouldn't blame him, though, because it was very strange to have a godson who worries that much of turning dark.  
  
Thinking of that, he remembered the accident with Ron again...  
  
And then he remembered how he felt like something dark posessed him. But that was just a stupid constatation, wasn't it? He was just too angry because Ron told Harry that Cho was his...  
  
...girlfriend.  
  
That brought Cho back to his mind, thinking that it wouldn't be bad of Cho would be his girlfriend; but he thought it was a bit... he didn't know how to tell the feeling he had, he just didn't feel like they were meant to be together. And Cedric... Cho surely missed him, how could Cho like Harry after all what happened only three months ago?  
  
But that was a question with an answer that would soon appear... 


	13. The Silent Attack

Chapter 13: The Silent Attack  
  
When he woke up the next day, he saw that the only one in the room left was Ron. It was nothing unusual, because they stood in the library long after midnight. Harry got up and he prepared himself for another lesson-free day, because it was Sunday. One thing that came to his mind was something he completely forgot. That was Quidditch. He knew he would be the captain for the gryffindor, so he had to do the hard job in everything. First, they were short one player, because Wood finished school two years ago. Second, he didn't do any practice yet, and he never gave a thought about it in the past.  
  
Ron woike up shortly after, and the both of them went downstairs to see if they missed breakfast. Fortunately, it did not finish yet. They were surprised to see that Hermione and Cho were not in the Great Hall.  
  
"Meybe they're searching for that damn spell," Ron gave his opinion.  
  
"Nope," said Harry. "Look, here they come."  
  
Hermione and Cho entered the Great Hall that moment. They seemed to wake up a little later than they had to. Still, there was only one thing that really disturbed Harry...  
  
He didn't know about Cho, but he was sure something unusual was happening to Hermione. She was never late for breakfast or class, and a few hours of reading after midnight couldn't make her come that late to breakfast.  
  
After the breakfast, Harry realized at last that from that morning, something was disturbing Ron very hard. There was something eating him, it was obvious, because he was in a quite bad mood. Thinking that Ron was his best friend, Harry asked him what was happening with him.  
  
"Oh, it's nothing..." was Ron's reply. Harry didn't know why but he was sure that that would be Ron's answer.  
  
"Yes it is, Ron!" said Harry, not giving up. "I know you too well to see if something is eating you."  
  
"No, Harry, nothing's eating me..." he said, looking at the floor.  
  
As they were walking up the stairs, heading to the Gryffindor Common room, Hermione joined them soon after they left the Great Hall.  
  
"I guess we will go today to the library again," she told Harry in a final voice.  
  
"WHAT?" Ron blowed up when he heard that. "No! No way. I'm not coming."  
  
Ron's face was starting to burn with anger. That only made Harry think that there really was something bothering him, because only in that case he would get that angry.  
  
"Ok, Ron, I understand," said Harry. He just hoped that he would manage to calm Ron, and secondly, to make him tell them what happened that made him that sad.  
  
"Yes, No one told you to come, just if you want," continued Hermione, catching the point. She didn't know what Harry had in mind, but she understood that he was playing something.  
  
"Yeah, sure," said Ron. "I wouldn't have come anyway."  
  
Ron started walking faster, but he didn't go on the stairs that lead to the Gryffindor Common Room. "I'll talk to him to see what is up with him", said Hermione in Harry's ear, and she sped herself a bit too. Harry remained alone on his way to the Common Room, where he wanted to think about what he could write in a letter to Sirius.  
  
Alone in the Gryffindor fifth year dormitory, Harry lay on his bed, looking at the ceiling. He couldn't imagine what to write to Sirius, there were not many things he could say. His fear of turning dark was very bothering, but it seemed so stupid... What would Sirius reply at something like that? And how would his letter sound? 'Dear Sirius, I just fear that I'm becoming dark. I almost attacked Ron and I saw myself dark in one of my Divination classes.' That would sound so stupid. But there was one thing he could write of -- the Shadow of Darkness...  
  
He looked around for a piece of parchment and a quill. Having in mind the idea of the letter, he started writing.  
  
Dear Sirius,  
  
He paused a few moments to give a thought about how he would start the letter. Was it good to start with his worries? Yes, why not; nothing bad could happen.  
  
I am currently looking for a dark spell that no book writes about. Nobody knows about it and we spend many hours in the library searching for it. Voldemort is supposed to use this spell on me, I know it, one of my friends heard Malfoy talking to his two brainless friends. Its name is the Shadow of Darkness.  
  
We even searched the Restricted secion for it. Nothing. We thought that Malfoy invented it just to scare me, but something inside me says that it really exists and I know I am in danger.  
  
He was disturbed by Hermione, who entered the dormitory with a serious face. There really was something bad.  
  
"Harry, Ron didn't want to tell me his troubles."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I guess he doesn't want to make us feel bad, too. I don't know exactly what's up with him. He wouldn't tell me. The only thing he did was to tell me off and to tell me to leave him alone."  
  
"Hermione, this is enough. I know it is something really bad, I haven't seen him so upset before." Harry thought about his third year where Hermione's cat was blamed for eating Ron's rat, Scabbers. Of course it didn't, but Ron and Hermione didn't want to talk to each other for quite some time.  
  
Hermione noticed the letter Harry was writing to Sirius. "Oh, what is that?"  
  
"What?" Harry asked. "Oh, this? I'm writing a letter so Sirius."  
  
"You haven't written to him for a long time."  
  
"I know," Harry said, and he started thinking again about the letter. Hermione sat near him, and read his letter, while Harry continued writing.  
  
Lately, another thing that bothers me is the multitude of things that point that I am going to turn dark. Their number increases with each passing day, and I can't think of anything else than those things. First, I predicted that in one of Trelawney's classes, and I don't think this one was rubbish, even though Trelawney predicted that she'll get an Order Of Merlin. But the prediction was mine, and it seemed so real. We did Image summoning, and these ones are so convincing. I don't think that it will ever project something that doesn't exist.  
  
Yesterday I almost attacked Ron, and it came from an unimportant argument. I felt like wanting Revenge -- for what, I didn't know. Then, I just took my wand and summoned a snake at him. Then I came back to my senses.  
  
It's my own conscience that tells me that something bad is going to happen, something even worse than before... What if I will really turn evil?  
  
For now, please tell me if you know anything about the Shadow of Darkness.  
  
That had to be the ending of the letter. He had nothing more to add, everything was clear, and he said exactly what he wanted to be said.  
  
Looking at Hermione, Harry saw that she was uncertain and worried as well. His worries had a good reason, and it all seemed so real... If it wasn't for the Death Eater who seemed to continue walking in school. He hadn't attacked Harry in the last days, but some students heard him walking. Some wanted some help from the Ministry, but without the Minister to help them, they could do nothing. THey wanted to appoint a new Minister but they hadn't chosen yet.  
  
"Do you think that Ron's behavior has something to do with a... kind of spell from the hiding Death Eater?" asked Hermione.  
  
"No."  
  
"What makes you so sure?"  
  
"I don't know... I just know it."  
  
"Harry, you're starting to act strange, too."  
  
"Yes, after attacking Ron..."  
  
"I don't mean that, but there is something else... You seem to know so many things."  
  
"Of course. Maybe that damn Death Eater fed me with more memories and facts."  
  
"You said you learned toe difference between the real memories and those given by someone."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well... Then does this...?"  
  
"I don't know why I know this, but it doesn't feel like an added memory either."  
  
Hermione didn't say anything else. They just waited for the other to say something, and then she said, "Well, let's go to find Cho and search more for the Shadow."  
  
"No," Harry answered hastily.  
  
"Harry! Now you really act strange!"  
  
Harry thought a little and came to the conclusion that Hermione was right. He didn't want to do anything he would normally do, and he had so many feelings about things he had no ideas about. But then something else came to his mind. Quidditch...  
  
"Hermione, the Quidditch season is about to start."  
  
"Yes, I know."  
  
"And I still didn't do anything about it."  
  
"I noticed that. Well, right; I'll go searching anyway."  
  
Harry didn't want to let Hermione search alone for the book, but he told himself that she was used to spend a lot of time alone in the library. And, she had Cho, too.  
  
Harry wanted to tell everyone that the Quidditch Team would meet thursday for practise. Not to forget that they still were short one player. And about their new keeper... they had to make a competition or something; they knew no god keeper.  
  
That day, at dinner, Harry told the Gryffidors that they had to choose a new keeper. He told everyone that he was the new Gryffindor captain, too.  
  
"What? Weren't we the captains?" joked Fred and George in unison.  
  
"You can be, too," Harry answered. Then something really strange came to his mind. "Maybe it will be a good idea for all of us to bring ideas as when we are all captains. It may help."  
  
Everyone looked at Harry surprised. He was surprised himself, he didn't know how those words reached his mouth... but the idea was very good. He could still be the captain, officially, but in reality all of them could work on tactics. Harry didn't know how, anyway, he didn't have Wood's type of leading spirit.  
  
Some Ravenclaws started talking about Harry's idea after some seconds. They seemed to like his way of thinking.  
  
"How would that be," asked Fred.  
  
"Strange," George answered.  
  
"We'' meet on thursday on the Quidditch Field," said Harry. "I'll book it... for... sometimes after classes."  
  
"Sure," said Fred. "And not to forget that we need a new keeper."  
  
"Oh," said Harry, "Who will that be?"  
  
It was qu8ite hard to think of anyone who could be a good keeper. He had never seen most of the Gryffidnors playing, so he knew nothing about how good they were. The only ones who he knew how they were playing were the Weasleys, and Ron wasn't that good for a keeper. Not from what Harry knew; they used to play a lot of Quidditch at the Burrow in their free time.  
  
"I guess we're gonna have a little contest," said Fred. That was exactly what Harry was thinking about.  
  
"Sure... thursday after classes..." said Harry. "We will inform everyone from Gryffindor about this."  
  
With that, Harry went back to the Common Room, took a very large piece of parchment, and wrote with huge letters:  
  
We will choose a new Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. There will be a contest and we will choose the keeper that evening. Anyone who is interrested will want to be present thursday at six o'clock in the evening.  
  
That seemed to be enough to attract attention of everyone who was good at Quidditch and who wanted to play for the Gryffindor Team. He didn't expect too many students to turn up, but they still needed a keeper. They needed someone that could defend against bludgers at least as good as Wood was. Harry couldn't afford to lose a Quidditch Match; Not now when he was playing for England. What would people say if something like that happened?  
  
He didn't want to imagine it.  
  
Not long after, several students went to read what Harry wrote. There were more then he thought that would want to be, and that could be a problem. How could they make a contest with so many contestants? He just had to wait and see how many would turn up thursday.  
  
The next few days passed without any unexpected events. Harry just tried to forget that he was in danger; but how could he do something like that. Everything was pressing him hardly, and days were becoming even harder to live. Not once did he dream that he would be going to turn dark. He saw himself again dark in the Divination class on Monday, and he felt like re-reading the Dark Book of Dark Arts.  
  
Ron didn't seem to give up his mood, and he was still blowing at anyone who tried to talk to him or to comfort him. No one managed to find out what was pressing him so hard, and Harry couldn't think of something like that that could happen to Ron. If Harry could live his life without so much fuss, why couldn't Ron do it? Could Ron's situation be any worse than Harry's? No one could ever tell.  
  
The first important thing he did was to go to the Gryffindor Quidditch Keeper Selection. That was how the team called that contest, the contest that was about to start.  
  
Everything was prepared. Harry talked to McGonagall and made sure that they wouldn't be disturbed by anyone. The current team was waiting for those who wanted to be keepers on the Quidditch Pitch. There were less than fice minutes to six, and a few students turned up. Harry was surprised to see that Ron was amongst them. He came to the selection, despite his bad mood and forgetting that he was never that good at Quidditch. Harry didn't want to make Ron feel worse with not being accepted to play the keeper position...  
  
"Ron?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You want to be keeper," Harry said more of a constatation than a question.  
  
"Sure."  
  
Harry was left with no words to say. He was very surprised by seeing that... Ron, a keeper? He could never see him like that. But, who knew what he really was capable of?  
  
Shortly after, the participants were all there. They were more than twenty. There was only one question left, and Angelina Johnson was the one who asked it first --  
  
"When can we test all of them?"  
  
"Maybe if we'll stay here until tomorrow," Katie Bell answered.  
  
Harry had to think something fast. He was the captain, and it was his job to make the testing as enjoyable as possible for everyone.  
  
Then they decided that everyone in the team would look on four different students. That way, they managed to test six different keepers at one time. They only had two goal posts, so they could test only two students at one time at the goal posts. Luckily that they had many different things to test, like their flying capabilities.  
  
That way everything could go well, and even better than they could think of. Harry insisted that he wouldn't have to test Ron, so he went to be tested by Angelina. Hary just wanted to not have anything to do with Ron -- at least he wouldn't get the blame if he wouldn't be accepted in the team.  
  
The tests went on for about two hours. There were no big problems -- well, excluding the time when Ron managed to fall from his broom when he was hit by a well-shot quaffle from Angelina.  
  
After that phase of the test, they decided they would choose three finalists, because all three of Ron, a sixth year and a third year did an excellent job. Harry was very surprised by Ron's performance. He could never expect that much from Ron... he thought that maybe he just wanted to much to play in the team so he really practiced a lot to get it.  
  
"Ok, we have chosen that three of you were brought to the final test," said Harry after a short talk with the team. "Firstly, I have to mention Ronald Weasley, who, except that he hell from his broom once, performed it very good." The crowd applauded and Ron walked in front of the team. "Second is Peter Nutstone," Harry said as the third year stepped and joined Ron in waiting." Applauses could be beard from a less people than for Ron, and that was when Harry said, "And the third is Gabriel Squid." The Sixth year joined Ron and Peter and waited for the final test, which would decide on who would remain the keeper.  
  
"If you want to go, you may go, but no one stops you from staying to watch," said George for the crowd to hear. Very few students left, mainly those who were very sad because they failed the test. The team wanted for Ron to go first, and he was told to show them something he could do with the broom, something that could help him in a game. They tested Peter and Gabriel, too, and they decided that at the first test, Ron was the winner.  
  
Then, they had to practice against chasers. Angelina, Katie and Alicia flew in the air with a quaffle and tested each of Ron, Peter and Gabriel's skills as a keeper.  
  
Much to Ron's dismay, he didn't perform that good at this test, and they decided that Peter was the best at keeping the quaffle out-of-posts. They did a few more tests, testing them on how they throw the quaffle to a chaser from the team, and then they were tested on the stability.  
  
The Gryffindor new Keeper was already chosen and with no problems. Alicia started explaining to the crowd...  
  
"After our tests, which have been quite difficult to arrange, we have managed to decide on our new keeper." Half of the crowd was eyeing Ron, ready to applause him when Alicia said that he was the new keeper...  
  
But that moment never came.  
  
"Our new keeper is Peter Nutstone," Alicia said in a final tone. There were no applauds, everyone was surprised.  
  
"Who?" some asked.  
  
"Peter Nutstone, you heard right. He was the best, and all the team voted him as the best on the field. Even though Ronald Weasley knows a few tactics, he is not that good as a keeper... Peter deserves to be our new keeper."  
  
An 'ohh' could be heard from the crowd, and then Harry found something to add.  
  
"We all miss Oliver Wood, I guess we won't ever have a keeper as good as him. We'll just wait and see." Peter gave Harry an annoyed look.  
  
"Damn it," Ron said, before he started walking very fast to the castle. They could hear him muttering, "So much in vain, everything gone". Harry felt very sorry for Ron, but that was not bringing any comfort. It wasn't enough that Ron was in a bad mood and no one knew why, that was all he needed to become even more grumpy.  
  
"Well, we have to congratulate our new keeper," said Harry, trying not to think about Ron at all -- but that wasn't so easy to do. Ron was his best friend -- and something was going really wrong. Did it have anything to do with the Death Eater? Or maybe with Voldemort himself?  
  
"Congratulations!" said Fred and George, and soon after that the entie crowd got out of the shock and went to normal, wanting to talk to Peter about how did he feel about being chosen in the team as a keeper. He was only in his third year, he was quite smaller than the other participants, but Harry knew that he was a lot better than Ron or Gabriel. He wasn't that solid but he seemed to be a lot more capable -- he had what was needed to become a good keeper. He had good reflexes, he could fly fast in order to catch the quaffle, and Harry had the feeling that he could hear the quaffle flying even when he was with his back at it.  
  
The crowd started talking back to the Hogwarts castle. It was becoming quite late, it was more than nine o'clock. It took so much time to test everyone, and even though they were there for better than three hours, it didn't seem that long. Harry was quite pleased because he had a good keeper in the team, maybe not as good as Wood, but still good. Forgetting Ron's behavior Harry started celebrating the arrival of their new keeper with the other Gryffindors.  
  
As they were heading slowly to the castle, a second year yelled, "There! Look!"  
  
He pointed a finger to a black spot moving in the distance. It was coming from the Forbidden Forest itself... looking more carefully, Harry saw that it was no animal. It had a human shape, a human wearing a big cloak covering his entire body. "A Lethifold!" another child screamed, but he was calmed down only a few seconds after.  
  
"It can't be a Lethifold, they don't live only at tropical zones," explained a seventh year.  
  
"What's a Lethifold?" Harry asked.  
  
"A very dangerous creature. Them most dangerous creature on the earth," the seventh year explained. "It has a shape of a cloak and --"  
  
But he was stopped soon by Harry, who was carefully looking at the moving figure. It was a hooded wizard, that was for sure. He was hurrying to them, not saying a word. "Wait," Harry said making the entire crowd stop and wait for further orders.  
  
Everyone happened so fast. The cloaked figure raised its hand when it was at a distance of about 100 feet. His hand became the source of a strong white light, and Harry could see that he had a wand in its hand. When he pointed his wand at the crowd, he seemed to create a very strong jet of white light with a gray outline that gained an enormous speed. Harry couldn't see more, the jet the wizard sent hit a person in the crowd, pushing Harry several feet distance from where he was, and when he fell, after the shock of hitting the ground, he started breathing heavily. Not long after that, he was knocked out, just like everyone around him. 


	14. Terror

Chapter 14: Terror  
  
Harry had been woken up by some screams around him. Several people started screaming and calling for help. Harry was still stunned by the spell the hooded person casted, but his powers slowly started to come back. After many unsuccesful tries, he managed to open his weak and heavy eyes.  
  
It was dark outside. The only thing he could see was the moon, giving everything a weak light, but strong enough for Harry's eyes to penetrate the darkness. The Gryffindor Team and those who tried their best for becoming keepers were all around him, most of them were horrified. Harry hadn't seen such terror in the Hogwarts students since the Dementors entered on the Quidditch field in his third year.  
  
Looking around and ignoring everyone's noise, Harry standed on his feet looking around for any possible hooded wizard around, but they were knocked out for too long -- he disappeared. He had enough time, whoever he was; and he needed no disapparition to get out of the grounds, or wherever he went.  
  
Maybe he hadn't left the Hogwarts Grounds... maybe he was just hiding.  
  
Trying to concentrate on other things, like talking to other people, he managed to forget the hooded person for a moment. He could see Fred talking with George hastily about something, and Harry guessed they were talking about the previous attack. He went near them to see what they were saying. But as he came by, they stopped.  
  
"What were you talking about?" Harry asked.  
  
"The attack," George answered.  
  
"We were asking each other who the attacker could be," Fred continued.  
  
"Yea sure," Harry added, "He surely is the same Death Eater who keeps -- cursing -- me these days. He is the Voldemort's second in assistance."  
  
"Why do you have to say that name?" a student who just woke asked.  
  
"That's why," Harry answered. "Because that's his name. It's no use hiding it."  
  
"Yesh right..."  
  
Then the student left them alone. "I bet it's Malfoy," said George.  
  
"Voldemort has lots of Death Eaters," Harry contradicted him. "It can be anyone. All of them hate me the same." He looked at the csatle a bit, and continued, "We'd better go to the castle. I have to talk to Dumbledore." He had to know what happened, and he was sure that Dumbledore wouldn't forget the attack over that many students so easy.  
  
"Everyone, let's go!" Harry shouted for everyone to hear. He could see several students nodding, and the entire group headed off to the Hogwarts castle. Harry couldn't not notice that a few students were still knocked out, and they were carried by the Mobilicorpus spell.  
  
Their journey to the castle had no unusual events, and the first thing Harry did after he entered the castle was to hurry to Dumbledore's office. He wondered what Cho would say when he would tell her about that attack.  
  
"Hello, Harry," Dumbledore said as Harry entered his office. "Let me guess. Something's wrong."  
  
"Yes, professor."  
  
"How can I help you?" he asked, but seeing that Harry didn't say anything, he asked more objective, "What happened?"  
  
"We were choosing our new Gryffindor keeper --"  
  
"Ah, Yes, Mr. Wood left two years ago..."  
  
"Yes. And when we were coming back to Hogwarts... well, someone -- we guess that it was the Death Eater -- he attacked us."  
  
"Who 'us'?" Dumbledore asked raising an eyebrow.  
  
"The entire group." As Harry expected, Dumbledore now had a more than serious expression -- he never allowed something like that to happen at his school. "The Team and all those who came to the Selection Contest."  
  
"All of you?" Dumbledore asked again, as his suspicions gre higher and higher with every moment.  
  
"He attacked all of us, professor. One spell and we were all knocked out."  
  
Dumbledore stopped to think. Harry understood that it was unexpectable that the Death Eater could be mad enough to attack more than thirty students at once, not to forget to meniton that they were on the Hogwarts Grounds! Anyone could see him -- actualy they did see him but that was of no use -- but he still attacked. He must have had so much self-confidence...  
  
"Harry, you must understand that this is really serious." Harry nodded, because he already knew that. "I can not allow him do something like that -- putting Hogwarts students in open danger."  
  
Then, Harry asked himself what did he do before -- why did Dumbledore let him all those years go in so many adventures, where his only help was from Ron and Hermione, in adventures he could die -- and he was surprised he didn't do it yet. But Dumbledore never did anything without a good thought -- maybe he was right all along for letting Harry clean up the evil from the school.  
  
"We must take safety measures," Dumbledore continued after a few seconds. "I have to decide on them before. Could you, please, Harry, tell me the whole story?"  
  
Harry started telling the headmaster everything he knew -- how Ron left before the Death Eater attacked, how somebody said it was a Lethifold, how everyone stopped when he said "Wait", and how he saw the attacker casting a spell.  
  
"That's strange," Dumbledore continued.  
  
"Professor," Harry said, something coming back to his mind, "What is a Lethifold?"  
  
`"Lethifonds... they are terrible creatures. They have a shape of a black cloak that moves in the air, and when they attack they catch the target inside, not allowing it to do anything until it eats the poor victim. They only live in Equatorial regions, so don't worry about them here. Nothing can make a Lethifold come here. No one is known to survive its attack yet."  
  
Harry felt like it was better not to ask that. It was all he needed -- to worry about those Lethifolds now... but, what could bring one to Hogwarts? He just concentrated on Dumbledore's words, 'Nothing can make a Lethifold come here.' He wanted to forget it, because if they only lived in equatorial regions there was no danger to him... only if Voldemort brought some. But they were not friendly creatures...  
  
Harry's head was spinning with thoughts, half of it was saying that he was in another danger and the other half just said that it was nothing to worry about. Which one to believe, he didn't know. With Voldemort, Harry started to think that anything was possible.  
  
"Harry, I'll go now, I need to make a meeting with all the staff."  
  
The both of them went downstairs and Harry headed to the Gryffindor Common Room, while Dumbledore went to the staff room.  
  
Because it was about 9 o'clock in the evening, the Common Room was still full of students. Almost all of the Gryffindors were terrified about what just happened, and Harry understood them immediately. He wanted to make everyone know how he felt like, but that was not possible; at least in those moments they were all acared -- maybe not even a quarter of how scared Harry was about what was about to happen.  
  
"W-What happened, Harry?" Hermione asked. "I see that everyone talks about another attack --"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I heard that he attacked all of you at once and with one spell --"  
  
"Yes, that's right."  
  
"Well, Harry --"  
  
"I know I know, we are all in danger. Didn't we know it already? At least about me --"  
  
"Harry!" Hermione stopped him seeing that he started talking about himself being in danger again.  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"Just..."  
  
"Just what?"  
  
"Calm down! We all know the danger we all are in --"  
  
"No we don't. Even I don't, at least until I'll find something about that Shadow of Darkness. Knowing the Dark Book of Dark Arts by heart helps a bit -- at least I know the pain I'll suffer before death."  
  
"Harry! Calm down, please!"  
  
"Yeah, right."  
  
"You're acting all strange, Harry! What's with you?"  
  
"Everything. Those attacks drive me mad!"  
  
"Yeah, sure," said Hermione. Then she did something unexpected; she took her wand, pointed to harry and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!"  
  
Harry's entire body turned to stone at that spell. That was a strange thing to feel, he was never put under that spell before. And he never expected the spell imprisoning him casted to Hermione.  
  
"Just calm down, Harry. I guess if I'll let you stay like this you'll manage to think about everything and stop."  
  
WHAT? Harry asked himself, mainly because he couldn't speak with a stone mouth. He knew that if he hadn't been petrified, his shout could be heard from the Dursleys.  
  
Harry could see some students asking Hermione what happened. Whatever they did, she just repeated what she told Harry. "To calm him down. I guess if I'll let him stay like this he'll manage to think about everything and stop."  
  
Harry thought he would stay petrified there for several hours. He was just asking himself what had gotten into Hermione. Just then, he saw Fred coming and saying a spell that unpetrified him.  
  
With his body back to normal, he was about to jump to Hermione to ask her why she did that -- but he stopped knowing that she wasn't herself. He told anyone who would hear anout that, and when Hermione heard that, she seemed to be back to her own self. "Sorry," she said.  
  
"It's not you who has to excuse. It's the Death Eater -- who knows what Rage spell he had casted on you."  
  
"Rage spell?" Herminoe asked.  
  
"Er, yes -- I read about it in the Dark Book of the Dark Arts."  
  
Harry knew that Rage Spells could be of several types, just like every other Dark Art. Harry went cold only when thinking of one of them -- the worst one, which makes a victim attack everyone who he sees. Harry knew that Hermione wasn't hit by one of these, because if she was, all of the students in the Common Room would be unconscious because a wizard or witch with the spell placed on him would know every single Dark Art and he could use any of them, and the Gryffindors wouldn't be trained enough to deal with a Berzerk Hermione. She still was the top student...  
  
"Do you think the Death Eater will ever be killed?" a third year asked.  
  
"Sure... in the next ten years," Harry added sarcastically. He knew that the Death Eater was skilled enough to resist for a long time -- if he wasn't Dumbledore would have caught him long ago. He had hidden on dark corners and unknown places a lot until that day, so he would continue like that.  
  
"Or maybe he will, sooner than you think," Harry continued. One thing just came to his mind -- if the Death Eater wouldn't get caught by himself, Harry would catch him.  
  
He sat on a chait and told Hermione to sit near him. He was planning to tell Hermione about his idea to hunt the Death Eater.  
  
"I'm going to find him," was all that Harry told her.  
  
"No. You're not."  
  
"Not me. You and Ron can help me, of course."  
  
"We're not suiciding just like that!" said Hermione in a very annoyed tone. "Are you out of your mind, Harry? Do you think that we are good enough to deal with a wizard that managed to knock-out thirty students at once? Can't you imagine what powers he has...? Haven't you read the Dark book of Dark Arts...?"  
  
"Hermione, if we won't catch him, no one will."  
  
"Harry, something strange is happening."  
  
"Sure, it always does."  
  
"I mean with you, Harry! You're acting all strange --"  
  
"And you aren't?" Harry asked standing up, raising his voice.  
  
"I am, too," Hermione added, "but look at you! You are just going to kill yourself by... well, just don't go! Because I won't come either, and you know Ron's mood. He'll never help us these moments."  
  
Harry's mind wasn't decided on what to do... what was better? Was it better to listen to Hermione?  
  
Of course it was a lot more intelligent to wait and see what the Death Eater would do, and wait until he would do a mistake -- any mistake that could stop him...  
  
But that was no option. Allowed to walk free all the time, a Death Eater in the Hogwarts Castle could do a lot of different things -- not only that he could attack anyone but he could spy, too. And he was Voldemort's second in assistance...  
  
"I'm going," Harry said, walking to his dormitory. He just saw on his four-poster, looking at the wall on the other side of the room. Everything was dark -- there was no light turned on to lit the room -- and Harry liked it. He told himself that he would stay like that for a few hours, it was very comforting.  
  
Just then, he asked himself what could be comforting in the darkness. But, he felt it; he just felt better. His worries lessened while staying in the dark, in the silenced dormitory, and the memory of seeing himself dark wasn't as haunting as before.  
  
He supposed that was how he would feel if nothing would keep him under pressure.  
  
After he stood there for about an hour, while nobody came to the dormitory, he was still looking at the opposite wall. Then suddenly, he heard something -- or did he? Was it just his immagination what gave him a chill on the spine?  
  
He supposed it had to be -- he heard nothing after that, for about thirty seconds -- and then he was convinced that he really heard something. He had heard a voice. A cold, slow voice, a such evil voice that gave even his robes a fright.  
  
He heard it again. He couldn't distinguish the words; he didn't even know if there were any words or it was just trying -- and succeeding -- to make him freeze in panic. Fear was penetrating his entire body, and with each passing moment he was becoming more scared. He felt like his entire body had gone cold.  
  
Then he heard the voice again. Harry immediately imagined a monster -- the voice was even more terrifying than Aragog's. But what could possibly sound like that?  
  
Next time when he heard the voice, he was about to jump out of his bed and run to the Common Room hoping that he would be safer there. But something stopped him -- he could understand the words... the creature, or whatever it was, spoke English. It said, "Fear is how I fall..."  
  
"What?" Harry asked, hoping to get an answer. But all he got was...  
  
"Confusing what is real..."  
  
Harry didn't do anything than to wait and see what the voice said next -- maybe it was a message from Voldemort? No doubt it was something like that -- what could terrify a person more than something of Voldemort's? Maybe it was Voldemort's new voice...  
  
And then he could hear it, again, but this time it was not anything that scared your wits off you. It was the same voice, but this time it was singing...  
  
"There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface... Consuming, confusing... This lack of self-control I fear is never ending... Controlling, I can't seem to find myself again, my walls are closing in..."  
  
Harry could just try to keep in mind some words. He could just think... lack of self-control... I can't seem to find myself again... 'Remember them, Harry,' he told himself...  
  
And he realized that it was almost like a description of the problems he was in.  
  
"Without a sense of confidence, I'm convinced that there's just too much pressure to take..." the voice continued. "I felt this way before, so insecure..."  
  
The voice stopped there, and Harry stood frozen on the bed he was on. Who would tell someone to go and sing to him something? Sing with a voice that had no idea what singing meant...  
  
He had no idea what happened. There was one thing to do... go and tell Hermione and -- not Ron -- Cho. Cho, because Harry knew she would understand and that she was intelligent enough to think better than him -- maybe she would manage to realize what exactly the voice was... if only she could hear it... because there were no words to describe that voice -- no one ever invented a word to describe that...  
  
Then, he ran... he ran to the Common Room. It was barely ten o'clock, so the room was full of students. When he saw them, Harry remembered that they were all scared of the previous attack. It would do no good to say what he had just heard in public. "Hermione?" he asked, and showed her a chair she could sit on. "I've got something terrible to say."  
  
Hermione's face just went more scared than it already was.  
  
"I heard... a voice."  
  
"Voice?" Hemione asked. "Like... the basilisk's?"  
  
"It's a terrible voice -- I bet no one ever heard a voice more frightening than this."  
  
"Voice?" Hermione asked again.  
  
"Yes. It said some words... and then it started singing."  
  
"Singing?" Hermione asked almost ready to laugh.  
  
"Terrible voice... it really sang something, but it was still frightening... And the worst part is that I have no idea how I heard it, what said those words or who sent the one who said that..."  
  
"What did it say? Can you remember?"  
  
"It almsot described my situation. It said something about a never-ending lack of self-control, and... those words which I can't forget, 'I cna't seem to find myself again'. It fits, doesn't it?"  
  
"It was a message," Hermione said. "A message. We just need to... decypher it and to know who sent it."  
  
"And how."  
  
"That's less important. It could have been a spell casted by someone on himself to sound like that..."  
  
"It may have been a monster."  
  
"Monster is a quite general word," Hermione added.  
  
"Yes, and it perfectly describes what I want to say. A voice more terrible than Aragog's, and the fact that it was dark in the room made it even more frightening. I heard a few different sounds before the voice, that was when the monster closed the room... or flew... whatever."  
  
"We can't know this. Yet. A good idea would be to go and talk to Cho... she may think about it, too; she's a Ravenclaw. Her advice may be vital."  
  
"Yes, I guess I will," Harry added, thinking that he would talk to Cho the next morning. He was so tired after all the things that happened in only one day. He onlu hoped that he wouldn't hear the voice again while he was sleeping -- he wanted to rest that night, not to get even more tired.  
  
Fortunetely, he could enjoy a good night's sleep, and when he woke up, he prepared to go to breakfast, after which he said he would have a very boring History Of Magic class.  
  
At breakfast, he searched for Cho. She was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, enjoying her breakfast, unlike almost all of the Gryffindors, who were still terrorized by the attack over the Quidditch Team. Seeing them in that mood, Dumbledore standed on his feet and made a sign telling everyone to quiet.  
  
"After the regretable attack over the Gryffindor Quidditch Team and a few more Gryffindors last evening, all the staff agreed to apply a few safety measures," Dumbledore said. "Because of that, we have decided that no student will go out of the castle without being accompanied by a teacher."  
  
At those words, several students said a loud "Ohh," especially Fred and George.  
  
"The second safety measure is... to stop everyone from walking on the corridors at midnight. For that, we have modified the way this kind of rulebreaking is punished. If a student is caught on the corridors without a permission from a teacher, he will be immediately expelled." Seeing the terrified faces of the students when they heard the word 'expell', Dumbledore added, "It is just for your own safety to not walk on the corridors at night.  
  
"Those rules will apply until the Death Eater is finally found and taken care of." He looked at Harry, who seemed to be the most bothered of all students -- he wanted to go at midnight out of the Gryffindor Tower... but he had never been caught before, right? That is, if he didn't count the moment when they got rid of Norbert and they were stupid enough to forget the invisibility cloak up on the Astronomy Tower.  
  
He continued his breakfast, and when he saw Cho preparing to leave, he sped up to talk with her before she left.  
  
"Good morning, Harry!" she said as she saw him closing.  
  
"Mornin'", he said.  
  
"What's up?" she asked, seeing that he wasn't happy. "Oh, it's the attack..."  
  
"Not necesarily," he contradicted her. "It's not the attack that bothers me the most, it's a... very strange and unexpected thing that happened last night."  
  
"What?" she asked, being curious.  
  
Harry started telling her about how he went to he dormitory and how he heard the scary voice. "You just can't imagine a voice as scary as that," he told her.  
  
"I can't."  
  
"Well, I want to decypher the message, or at least to know who sent it. Or what said it." He told her the words he could remember from the song, and then she asked --  
  
"That voice -- sang?"  
  
"Yes. Very strange, I know; I was surprised myself when it started doing that."  
  
"So it fits quite well to your situation... he is gaining control over your person... with those spells..." She looked sadly into his eyes. "This is not good, Harry," she said in a very worried way. "Not good at all... we must stop him somehow."  
  
That was exactly what Harry wanted her to say. It was his plan that could do exactly what they all desired. He would go and look for the Death Eater.  
  
"I have already thought of that," he said. Cho's face brightened at the good news... well, at least good until Harry would tell him what he was planning. "I am going to search for him."  
  
Cho's reaction was exactly how he pictured it.  
  
"WHAT?" she asked surprised. "No, you're not. You'll die."  
  
"I will have support. I won't be alone."  
  
"Who will help you in this suicide?"  
  
"Hermione will, maybe Ron, and... you, I guess."  
  
Cho went silent. She didn't think about that, and Harry didn't blame her. She wasn't used to all kinds of strange situations as he was. She had never had adventures not even far as dangerous as Harry had in all his years. She had never been so close to death as he had.  
  
"You will help, won't you?" he asked after a few seconds of pause.  
  
but Cho didn't answer. It was so hard to decide for her -- and after that, she said, "I think I will." That surprised Harry very much -- he didn't think that she would agree... but, then, Why did she agree? Why did she put her life in danger for Harry?  
  
"If we wait too much, it will be too late," Harry continued. "That means, if I stay and do nothing about it, I'll die. Then why shouldn't I do something? There will be a chance to survive in this."  
  
"I see, Harry, but still I don't much like the idea."  
  
"Then why did you agree to help?"  
  
"Because... there is no alternative..." They stood there silent for several seconds, and after that, Cho said, "So have you talked to Ron and Hermione?"  
  
"No,"  
  
"Well, talk to them and we will discuss more about it."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Well, see you later!" said Cho, while Harry answered, "Bye." She watched him as he left the Great Hall. He was heading towards the History of Magic Classroom, where the Gryffindors had class. Harry told Hermione the situation in the class, and she finally agreed.  
  
The worse part was with Ron, whose sad mood was the first barrier to reach anything.  
  
"Ron," Harry started, "I need to talk to you."  
  
"What?" he asked, in the most sadistic way.  
  
"We are going to search for the Death Eater --"  
  
"You WHAT?" Ron asked, completely forgetting his bad mood.  
  
"Hermione, Cho and I have agreed that it's better to catch him before he catches me. If I'll stay and wait for something to happen, it may... happen, and what will we to then, when it's all ready to be over. So..."  
  
"Yeah, I understand, but I don't think I'll come," Ron said, returning to his bad mood.  
  
"Why?" Harry asked. But Ron didn't answer, he didn't seem to bother answering either. The Ron of the last few days was back. "Why, Ron, For God's sake, what happened?"  
  
He finally seemed to give up. He slowly searched in his pocket for something, and after a few seconds he took a piece of parchment -- a letter. He handed it over to Harry to read.  
  
Dear Ron,  
  
Very bad events have striked our house. Lately, your father started acting all strange, as he did at the Quidditch Cup in the summer. I have recieved a letter from the Ministry saying that it's not doing anything bad, but I know there is. He is put under a strong spell that keeps him from talking to anybody, and he is like hypnotized almost all day.  
  
I think the Ministry has really lost everything when Fudge was taken away. Nothing's going good there, either. I heard that several people from the Ministry have disappeared for some time.  
  
I can control Arthur, but he wouldn't listen to anybody. He uses to ignore us, and I fear that this is only the beginning.  
  
Love,  
  
Molly Weasley  
  
When he saw that letter, Harry immediately understood Ron's bad mood. He was really touched always when something happened to anyone who he catred about. Harry took Scabbers the rat as an example. When Ron firstly thought he lost his pet, he wsa in a very bad mood, too. And he surely cared more of his father than of his rat.  
  
Did that mean that he had to do the search only with Hermione and Cho? 


	15. Midnight Hunt

Chapter 15: Midnight Hunt  
  
They have entered october after a few days. The weather was getting colder than before and in his visits at the lake, Harry had to take warmer clothes. On the second day of October, after they finished the classes, he decided that the day to search for the Death Eater had to be...  
  
"Today," Harry told Hermione and Cho, because Ron didn't accept to come even with all of Harry's and Hermione's pleads. "If we wait a few more days, I know that the Death Eater will do something..." He thought a few moments about the last attack on the Quidditch Field. There were quite a few days since the Death Eater had become idle. "I know he will do it soon -- he hadn't done anything lately."  
  
Hermione nodded, and Cho's face seemed to show a deep express of worry. Harry had to agree with the fact that what they wanted to do was quite dangerous -- Very dangerous at the second thought. The Death Eater seemed to use the dark spells a lot -- spells Harry hadn't heard of before Voldemort had risen again.  
  
"Do you think this is the best option?" Cho asked.  
  
"Well, from what we know, yes," Harry said. "We have no other alternative... think of one if you want..."  
  
"But there is no other alternative!" Cho exclaimed. "I don't think I will come..."  
  
Harry felt like he would die soon. As if it wasn't enough that Ron wasn't helping... If Cho didn't want to help, he thought it was better for him to just wait until the Death Eater attacked... or to talk to Dumbledore about the search... but that was stupid. He couldn't imagine Dumbledore telling him that they would search for the Death Eater...  
  
And another question popped in Harry's head. He didn't feel asking Cho, but he was wondering why she wouldn't join.  
  
After thinking some seconds, he had finally found an answer at that question. Cho was not a Gryffindor so she wasn't as brave as Harry, Ron or Hermione was.  
  
"Cho," Harry said slowly. "We just... can't do it if we are only two."  
  
"I know, and we won't be able to do it even if we are three."  
  
"Then why wouldn't we go and force Ron to help us?" asked Harry. Hermione's face darkened. "I was just joking, Hermione."  
  
"You are joking again when we are in such important moments!" Hermione replied, reminding Harry of the last time Hermione said that. In those moments she just left... "It's not the first time --"  
  
"Hermione stop that!" Harry told her, having no time for Hermione's speech. "We have something to talk about."  
  
"Or joke about," Hermione added.  
  
Fortunately, she didn't leave them there, and after a few seconds of waiting to see what was happening, Harry heard Cho say something.  
  
"I really would help -- but -- it's too dangerous."  
  
"If you want, I'll tell you how many adventures i went into and how I survived them all, again." Harry didn't want to give up that wasily, even though something told him that he shouldn't complain against Cho's decision. "Honestly, you shouldn't worry so much about this --"  
  
"NOT WORRY?" Hermione blew up. "Damn it, Harry, this is something even worse than --"  
  
"Worse than a duel with Voldemort himself?" he asked. "Is it worse than that?"  
  
"It may be."  
  
"Yes, it may be, but this time I won't be alone if you two will help."  
  
"I think we will talk about this until tomorrow," Hermione continued. "We should just say -- shall we do it or not?"  
  
Harry looked at Cho. She seemed to be thinking hard about it. Harry understood her, and what she felt about that -- fear could be very convincing a lot of times. And Cho was not a Gryffindor...  
  
"I will," Cho said after a while. Harry's spirit seemed to birth again. Hope came back to him, if he had Cho's help he was more sure that they would bring their plan to a good end. She had many adventages -- being a Ravenclaw meant that she could give a lot of good advice. She knew more spells, because she was one year older than Harry, and that could help much. And, she just seemed to boost Harry's morale when she was around -- and Harry knew why...  
  
...only because he liked her so much... and he wanted her to help him.  
  
But then something popped in Harry's head again. Why did she accept to help him? He didn't have enough time to think of that, because Cho continued:  
  
"Well, how will we do it? When?"  
  
"Tonight," Harry said firmly.  
  
"Tonight?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Tonight," Harry answered.  
  
"Okay, so let it be tonight," said Cho. "I'll... I'll get ready..."  
  
"Get ready? There's nothing to do except to meet sometime in midnight --"  
  
"Midnight," Hermione repeated slowly. "If we'll get caught, we will be in more trouble than ever! Remember what Dumbledore said? We will get expelled!"  
  
"Not if we will be careful," Harry said. "So, then, what if we'll meet this evening at 9 o'clock so we will be able to -- think -- a good plan?"  
  
"There is nothing to plan, Harry! With something like this, we will only meet the unexpected! Everywhere... We won't be able to know where each teacher will be."  
  
"And we'll have to be sooo careful to avoid them, even with invisibility cloaks! Talking about invisibility cloaks, how will we go?" asked Cho, thinking that both she and Harry had one.  
  
"Well I guess one of us will take Hermione inside," Harry answered. "I will, I am used to that..." He looked aroud to see if anyone could have heard them talking. They were on a corridor where anyone could come at anytime.  
  
"I still do not think that this is a good idea," Hermione brought back the subject.  
  
"Yes I know that this is not a good one but it's the only one," Harry continued. Harry was very surprised to see that Cho nodded. "So, Cho, you will be here at 9... Hermione and I will be here, so we will start making a plan... if there is anything to be planned. But I know there has to be something, something that we can expect. Take as an example, we should think of what may happen IF we meet the Death Eater..."  
  
A short time after, they said bye and Harry and Hermione went to the Gryffindor tower. Hermione didn't like the idea at all, and Harry didn't blame her at all, not with all the Dark things that were happening at Hogwarts -- but it was for the best. If they would do their best and manage to catch the Death Eater -- but only IF -- all of the Hogwarts students would be safe again. At least until Voldemort would find another Death Eater to send.  
  
All he hoped was that they would tryumpf in the search and be able to do a good job. And there was one more thing he hoped: that Dumbledore wouldn't punish him for being out at midnight...  
  
As 9 o'clock was closing, Harry started feeling more and more troubled about the actions he had decided to do. It was that moment when he understood all of Hermione's fears and he thought of not attacking anymore -- but then he just convinced himself that it was the only alternative. He remembered the Cruciatus he managed to cast on Avery -- and hoped that he would manage to do it again, because both of them were Death Eaters. Or maybe he wasn't the one who casted it, maybe it was casted by another Death Eater through Harry? If that was possible at all...  
  
At 9 he took Hermione and lead her to the corridor they talked earlier. Cho was already there when they reached, and she said that she had just arrived a few seconds before, too.  
  
"So, what will we do?" Harry asked. "Have you brought your invisibility cloak?"  
  
"I did,"  
  
"So did I. Now, we should search every place."  
  
"Yes, He may be invisible, so I have prepared a True-Seeing Potion," Cho said.  
  
"You always think of everything," Harry said. "Thank you for this. If you hadn't thought of it, we may have done all of this in vain."  
  
"You seem to not be able to do things alone. I start to wonder how did you manage to do all those things in your previous years."  
  
Another thing they had to consider was the fact that Dumbledore could see through Invisibility cloaks. He only thought that they had a True-Seeing potion and that they could see Dumbledore even if he was invisible, so they could stay away from him.  
  
They talked about the order of corridors they would explore. Cho told them about some secret corridors even they didn't know. That moment Harry was reminded of a lost thing -- The Marauder's Map. He wished he still had that wonderful Map of Hogwarts at him, he wished he hadn't given it to the supposed Mad-eye Moody. He wished he would have had it back.  
  
Cho observed that he was thinking of something else, and asked, "Harry! Are you here?"  
  
"Yes, I am," he continued. "I was just thinking of the Marauder's Map."  
  
"The What?" Cho asked.  
  
"It was a Map of Hogwarts I had lost the last year. Moody -- I mean Crouch -- took it... and I haven't seen it ever since. It was a beauty; it showed the position of every person -- it was my best friend when I was trying to sneak out of the Gryffindor Tower at night. I wonder where it is now."  
  
Cho looked at Harry for a few seconds, surprised by what he said, and then asked, "You had a map of Hogwarts? That was -- cool!"  
  
"It was. I have no idea where it is now." He remembered of the creators of the map -- Lupin, Sirius, Pettigrew and... his father. His mind immediately slipped on thinking about his father, making himself forget what big night was about to happen at Hogwarts. A night where two things could happen: Either they would catch the Death Eater, or the Death Eater would catch them.  
  
They talked about the Marauder's map for a few minutes and then they remembered why they were there for. Considering the Marauder's Map lost, they returned to making the plan -- where they would go. They decided they would search the Grounds, too, because that was the place where most of the attacks took place.  
  
It was about eleven o'clock when they decided to start their search. Even though they planned to leave at twelve, they didn't have the patience to wait another hour.  
  
Only when they left, Harry realized that it was so stupid to try searching the entire castle for the Death Eater -- he could be anywhere. And he could change his position so they wouldn't meet him at all. It all seemed so stupid, so useless. But something told him that they had to do it; something told him that they would meet the Death Eater that night.  
  
He couldn't wait to find out who he was, to find out who was terrorizing Harry, and lately, the entire school. It was the moment he should pay.  
  
They searched the 7th floor first, and they decided to search all the floors in order, and then they would go to the Dungeons. After that, they would search out of the castle. The towers would be searched when they would reach an entrance to each.  
  
"We'll manage to explore all the known castle in a few days," Cho said.  
  
"Yes, I know," Harry continued. He was lucky with the True-Seeing Potion so he could see her even through those invisibility cloaks.  
  
As they walked, he wished he was alone with Cho. That thought was so stupid, Harry thought, he wondered how did it come to his head. They had so few chances if they were only two... and adding his feelings for her, he would have stood no chance against the Death Eater becuase his mind would have raced elsewhere.  
  
The 7th floor was clear. They headed to the 6th floor, where they had lots of rooms to search, but with no success there either.  
  
They searched all the floors in a hurry, and met nothing, except Filch, who heard Hermione's footsteps and they had a hard time to get past him on the 3rd floor.  
  
Then Harry had an idea. He called Cho to come close, and whispered,  
  
"Maybe he knows of the secret tunnels that lead to Hogsmeade."  
  
"Secret tunnels?" Cho asked.  
  
"Yes, there are seven in total, but only a few are still avalabile. Should we search them, too?"  
  
"Not now," Hermione answered. "I don't think he knows of them. Only the Marauder's Map showed them, and if you don't have that map it's a low chance to know about them. And Moody had no time to tell Voldemort about them."  
  
"Did he?" Harry asked. That was terrible -- maybe Voldemort actually knew.  
  
"I don't --"  
  
"That's what owls are for!" Harry said. "I bet he told his master --"  
  
"Worry later, we have to search for someone now," Cho stopped them. "Let's go, we have the dungeons and the grounds. It's three o'clock, I am sure that we haven't searched too well until now."  
  
They decided to go and search out of the castle, but they didn't find anything. He wasn't in the dungeons, either.  
  
Because it was still just five, they searched the tunnels, too. Harry told Cho about the passage under the Whomping Willow, becasue that was a better place to hide in. There were so few people who knew about that, and everyone was still frightened about the shrieking shack. But the Death Eater couldn't possibly know that; even Moody had no idea about the Willow's knot that froze it.  
  
Unfortunately, he wasn't there either.  
  
As they were heading back to their common Rooms, almost falling asleep while walking, they heard another sound.  
  
"Oh, it's nothing, we have heard many sounds today," Hermione said.  
  
Harry looked around. And there he was, the Death Eater heard them and was walking on the corridor. Harry pointed to him. "T - There!"  
  
Hermione and Cho looked at him, too. He couldn't see them and that was a good advantage.  
  
For Harry, it was time for revenge. He couldn't see who the Death Eater was because his face was hidden. His black cloak was exactly the same as the one he wore while he attacked on the Quidditch Field.  
  
Harry, feeling brave and ready, raised his wand, and shouted as loud as he could, "STUPEFY!!!"  
  
The Death Eater heard him, raised on his feet, and dodged the spell Harry casted.  
  
"Hermione! Cho!" Harry said, "Let's do it!"  
  
Hermione and Cho pulled their wands, and each of them casted a different spell. Harry didn't know exactly what to do. Seeing that the Death Eater wanted to dodge Hermione's and Cho's spells, Harry casted another Stupefy where he thought the Death Eater would be after a short time. But he was fast enough to stop, and dodged all three spells at once.  
  
All three let go of their invisibility cloaks and left them on the ground there.  
  
"You didn't think three students will be able to do anything to me?" he asked.  
  
Harry was sure that he heard that voice before. It was all too familiar. He knew he did hear it somewhere, and not only once. But who could it be?  
  
It wasn't a Death Eater who he heard at the Little Hangleton Churchyard. It was a voice he had heard before, and it was not a voice introduced by any spell -- he knew it.  
  
"Who are you?" Harry asked.  
  
"You don't care. Crucio!" he shouted, pointing his wand at Harry.  
  
Very strong pain filled Harry's body, it felt like thousands of needles were piercing his skin. All he wanted was for the spell to stop, or for him to die...  
  
The pain left his body after a few most painful seconds. "What are you doing here?" the Death Eater asked. "Why aren't you in bed, sleeping like the other students?" Seeing that Harry didn't answer, he continued, "Maybe you wanted to be hurt, didn't you? You wanted for the Cruciatus My Lord casted on you to be casted again? Did you miss the pain?"  
  
Harry still couldn't recognize the voice, but he knew that he had to do something before the situation got any worse.  
  
"Or did you want to see it from the outside again?" he asked. Then, in less than a second, he pointed his wand at Cho, casting a Cruciatus on her.  
  
Harry felt as bad as he would have felt if the curse was casted on him. It felt as if he was put under the Cruciatus himself. He couldn't stand seeing Cho suffering that kind of intense pain, and that made him say to the Death Eater, "STOP!"  
  
"What, Potter, you care about your friends? Ohhh how nice... Let's see it again, won't we?" he asked, casting a Cruciatus on Hermione this time.  
  
Harry casted a Stupefy on the Death Eater while he was busy torturing Hermione, and after that he was out. Hermione and Cho raised on their feet again.  
  
Harry was looking, painfully, at Hermione and Cho. He knew how much it hurt, he knew how bad it was. And he couldn't accept seeing any of his friends under that curse.  
  
"Are you alright?" he asked them.  
  
"Well, after that, I'd better say no," Cho answered. "What should we do now?"  
  
"I know," Harry said, "Help me to tie him up," and they casted a few spells that kept the Death Eater tied to the wall. They took his wand, so he wouldn't be able to do anything. "Now, we whould question him."  
  
"Shouldn't we call Dumbledore?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Are you mad?" Harry asked. "I still have three more years to learn at Hogwarts!"  
  
"Yeah, right," Hermione continued.  
  
"Ennervate!" Harry said, pointing his wand at the Death Eater, who immedialtely was returned to consciousness. "That's it, who are you?"  
  
He walked forward, ready to uncover his face.  
  
"You'll never see who I am, though you know me. Everybody should."  
  
"Who do you think you are," Harry said, and then he was ready to uncover his face, but --  
  
Only the next second Harry felt that he was flying on the corridor. The Death Eater had a protection, so nobody could uncover his face. Harry landed on the floor, barely remaining conscious.  
  
Hermione and Cho were hurring towards him, worried. "Are you okay?"  
  
"I am," he answered. "I think I am anyway."  
  
As he said that, he opened his mouth in horror. He saw that the Death Eater was exactly at the backs of his friends. He raised his wand, which Harry let go while he was thrown back, and in less than a second, he pushed the girls aside and pointed his wand at Harry.  
  
"If anyone does a move you'll be dead, Potter."  
  
It was hard to decide what to do at that moment.  
  
"You underestimated the Dark Magic," he said. "It's such a pity that you do not have enough brains to think that you should never try to channelge the Dark Side.  
  
"It's so lucky for me and My Lord that you are as foolish as this. We don't have to bother searching for you, because you come in our hands! I didn't know how stupid you could be, Potter. And your friends actually did as you told them."  
  
Harry just asked, "Just tell us what is the Shadow of Darkness! I want to know what that is before I'll die."  
  
"Does it matter anymore?" the Death Eater asked. "You're already dead, Potter. You know you are. The Shadow didn't help much, or maybe it did? I wonder. I can't find this out, but it doesn't matter at all. My Lord will be pleased. His second in command had done an excellent job in catching you. And it was so easy..."  
  
Harry didn't care much about what the Death Eater said. He only wanted to talk with Hermione and Cho about a way they could get out of that. But it was almost impossible to talk to them. An idea came to Harry then.  
  
"It's me who you want. Just leave them alone," he said.  
  
"That's too risky. I bet one of them recognized my voice. If none of you did, then you really have a bad memory."  
  
"You have done it. And you didn't even use the Shadow of Darkness on me... I am so stupid."  
  
The Death eater started to laugh. "To use it?" he asked. "Me?"  
  
"Yes, you."  
  
"Well I really see that you have no information about that spell. To use it? And it was affecting you all the time... and not only you! No, you are really wrong to believe that I cast the Shadow of Darkness -- no way."  
  
Harry observed that while he was talking to the Death Eater, Hermione and Cho were secretly saying something to each other. Maybe they were planning to escape already.  
  
He decided that they were intelligent enough to think of a good plan, and gave them more time by keeping the Death Eater busy.  
  
"So you say I know who you are," he continued.  
  
"Everyone should know me -- at least by name. Every wizard, I mean. That is so stupid of you to not know who I am -- and I will benefit from that. If you find out who I am, many things will change and I will be disadvantaged."  
  
"Then why do you tell me all these? Now it's logically that everyone will look for you and will try to know who you are."  
  
"No, that's wrong. You won't tell anyone that finding me is so important -- because you won't ever speak to anyone. It's your end, Harry Potter. These are the last moments of your cursed life. I know that you hate all the events that happen to you, and I don't like you to be alive... well, there is a thing we have in common right? What if I'll stop them? I've mastered the curse already. Beliefe me, it's not so painful... Nothing compared to the Cruciatus."  
  
"Never!" Harry said. "I know that no people would want to be me, but I know how important I am to the wizarding world."  
  
"Important?" he asked. "Important? You say you are important? I don't think so. Voldemort didn't try to kill you because you're important, he just wanted revenge --"  
  
"YOU LIAR!"  
  
The Death Eater got angry. He was preparing himself to do the deadly curse, and then Hermione and Cho got up. The Death Eater was distracted, but it didn't stop him from casting the Avada Kedavra curse on Harry.  
  
Hermione casted a Stupefy spell on the Death Eater, and Cho did a thing that he would have never expected. He looked at her wand which cast a stupefythat was directed to him. It had to be one of her brightest ideas, that spell pushed Harry aside and the curse hit the floor.  
  
Harry saw the Death Eater being stunned, and in less than a second, he was stunned himself.  
  
A few moments later, he was revived by Cho's ennervate spell. She had tears of joy on her face. "We did it, Harry! We did it..." One second later, he found himself being hugged by Cho, who was so happy about what they had just done. She let go of him when she realized what she was doing.  
  
They looked at the Death Eater who was lying on the floor. "What should we do with him?" Harry asked.  
  
"Let's see who he is --"  
  
"No, that protective spell will always be active. We won't be able to do it even by magic. I guess calling Dumbledore would be still a better idea."  
  
"No, he will still punish us," Hermione said.  
  
"He won't," said Harry. "So many times have I been warned with expulsion, and he never did that --"  
  
"Harry! This is different!"  
  
"No it's not. It's still the same thing -- We've done a heroic thing again and helped all the students to lessen their fears now that we caught the Death Eater. We only have to figure out who he is."  
  
They decided after all that they shouldn't tell anything to Dumbledore. They binded the Death Eater to the ground and made sure that he wouldn't wake up until the next day. They had one idea in mind: to leave him there until Dumbledore, or somebody, would pass by him. Of course, Dumbledore would find out that it was Harry's and hid friends' job.  
  
Despite the fact that it was getting morning, they went to their Dormitories and slept well, missing the Defense Against the Dark Arts and the History of Magic classes completely... 


	16. When the Shadow finds You

Chapter 16: When The Shadow Finds You  
  
"Harry!", Harry heard through the silence of the dormitory. "Harry, wake up! It's afternoon! Let's go to lunch!"  
  
Harry, sleepy as he was, just turned on the other side of the bed and continued his sleep.  
  
"Harry!"  
  
But he just ignored the voice. He was still sleeping, and could only hear that with half of an ear.  
  
"HARRY!", the person shouted, and then Harry felt something cold tough his face. He immediately raised on his feet, looking at the person who woke him up is if it was the Death Eater.  
  
"Oh, it's you, Ron," Harry said with a very low, sleepy voice. He was holding his wand in the right hand, and Harry understood that the cold feeling he had must have been a result of a spell.  
  
"Who did you think I was?" Ron asked. "Come on, I have just woken up, too, five minutes ago -- we missed two classes already."  
  
Hearing that, Harry started feeling wide awake. All the sleepiness left him in less than a second, and he was ready to start another day. Or better said another half of a day...  
  
They met Hermione in the Common Room. She seemed to have woken up late, too. They could see that in the We-missed-two-classes expression she had on her face. "We missed two classes!" was the first thing she said.  
  
"I know," said Harry. "And I don't blame us. Well, we did it for a noble cause, didn't we?"  
  
"I guess it wasn't," Hermione continued. "I haven't heard of anything strange... and that means either that the Death Eater managed to get out of the place we binded him to the ground, or maybe Dumbledore keeps it secret."  
  
"I'd rather believe the second option," Harry continued.  
  
"I won't. Dumbledore wouldn't let the Hogwarts students stay frightened with the image of seeing the Death Eater breaking into a classroom and attacking them during the classes popping in their mind. He would have told everyone the good news. So, I doubt that he had been caught."  
  
"No..." Harry said more to himself when he found out that Hermione's words made sense. "No, he couldn't escape."  
  
"Maybe he had some assistance from one of his fellow Death Eaters!" Ron gave his opinion.  
  
"Who knows," said Hermione, "We only know that he hadn't been caught. So Hogwarts is still in danger."  
  
"We should have better talked to Dumbledore!" Harry said, slapping himself. "Oh, how could I be so stupid?"  
  
While he walked to the Great Hall, thinking about the 'morning' he had, he noticed that Ron was back to a better mood again. He just hoped that he would stay like that... his help was always needed, they could have done a better job if Ron was in their team while they searched for the Death Eater.  
  
In the Great Hall, Harry looked at the Ravenclaw table to see Cho. He had to ask her about the Death Eater. Did she know that he escaped? He had to talk to her to ask about that; and then to talk about the next thing they would do about the Death Eater. They had Ron, and if they were four they stood a better chance. Even though the Death Eater would be more cautious, too, he couldn't face them all at once -- and one of them was Harry Potter himself.  
  
They talked but found out nothing new. The Death Eater was free and they had to do something about it. The Shadow of Darkness was even more mysterious with the things the Death Eater told them.  
  
They all thought about it for several days, but they hadn't found anything sure. They knew that the Shadow was casted on Harry -- and possibly not only him -- by somebody else than the Death Eater. Could it be Voldemort? Maybe he casted the spell while at the graveyard three moths ago when he witnessed Voldemort's return to power...  
  
Or who else could cast it?  
  
They haven't realized who the Death Eater was. Their only conclusion was that he surely put them under a spell that stopped them from recognizing him. And who could it be?  
  
Nobody who could have done something like that passed through Harry's mind.  
  
Thinking about those mysteries brought back to Harry's mind even more things. What about himself turning dark? What about the blank pages of the Dark book of Dark Arts?  
  
What about the time when he almost attacked Ron with a snake.  
  
Everything was so cloudy in Harry's -- and not only his -- mind. Hermione and Cho couldn't find anything either, not to talk about Ron, who seemed to ignore these of Harry's worries and think of his father more.   
  
He had a strange opinion that those things had a connection. Why was he forced to read the Dark book of Dark Arts a few weeks before? The Death Eater casted a spell that made him go and read the book...  
  
That was quite obvious. The Death Eater just wanted Harry to have an idea what he was fighting against.  
  
Still, they all reached to no conclusions at all. Everything seemed to be connected but he couldn't think about what was happening. Would it be better to tell Dumbledore?  
  
No, it couldn't. He decided to think more about it -- or wait until something strange happened again.  
  
And it did happen quite soon. The next sunday, they all stood in Great Hall at dinner. They were quiet, because no words seemed to pass through their minds after so many tries of finding out something about the dark things happening around.  
  
Harry was just eating and he didn't want to think of anything that could ruin a pleasant dinner. But he didn't have to wait more until Ron looked at him in an unusual way.  
  
"What is it?" Harry asked.  
  
"What were you mumbling about?" Ron asked.  
  
"Me?"  
  
"Yes, you," said Ron, looking at Harry as if he was looking at an idiot.  
  
"Did I?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione, hoping that he would get an answer.  
  
"Yes, you did," she answered, and then she went back to the dinner.  
  
What did that mean, Harry asked himself. He didn't even realize that he was mumbling something. "Did you, by any chance, understand what I said?"  
  
"Yes," said Ron, "A bit of it. You said something like 'I'll kill him. Kill him and his master'. That was what I understood... you continued something about -- about..." but Ron didn't seem to want to tell Harry about that.  
  
"About what?"  
  
"About... I can't say it. I know it will come as a shock to you."  
  
"Ron, for God's sake, just say it!" said Harry, feeling that if Ron didn't agree he would lose his temper.  
  
"It was... do you really -- really think you want to hear it?"  
  
"OF COURSE I DO!" Harry shouted annoyed. "Just say it!"  
  
"About yourself taking their places."  
  
That almost made Harry's heart stop. That almost cleared a few things for him. That sentence made, again, in front of his eyes, the image of himself turning dark. And it wasn't like it was before -- this one was even worse. He imagined himself being like Voldemort was... merciless, heartless and... evil. He imagined himself with a pile of Muggles in front of him waiting to be tortured with the Cruciatus Curse. He imagined his followers looking at him as he saw them looking at Voldemort.  
  
"About myself taking their places," Harry repeated. That meant that he would kill Voldemort and continue the terror Voldemort made though the wizarding -- and not only that -- world.  
  
If he said something like that, it meant that a part of him really wanted it. It meant that a part of him was already -- already evil.  
  
Or did it? He couldn't be evil, he just knew that he couldn't.  
  
But it could be forced to become evil. That was the moment when he understood a part of the mystery.  
  
Those words he mumbled -- and not only them, all of the images of himself turning dark, his attack over Ron -- everything was the result of the Shadow of Darkness. The spell was meant to make him dark.  
  
That moment felt as if a stone was taken from his heart, bot another one placed in its place. He solved the mystery of the shadow of Darkness -- but he knew that he was turning evil. And there was nothing to do about it. He would fight it as long as he could, but he couldn't imagine how long he would resist the pressure of a spell casted on him, a very strong spell, meant to turn him dark.  
  
Back to the real world, he looked at Ron, with a face that confused everyone. They didn't know what to think, was Harry scared or was he happy?  
  
He was both scared and happy.  
  
"That's it," he continued.  
  
"That's what?" asked Ron.  
  
"This is the result of the Shadow of Darkness. Can't you see? Everything makes sense now. Everything except one thing."  
  
There was one thing that still he didn't know. Who casted the spell?  
  
Hermione and Ron were looking at Harry, still not understanding it. He saw how stupid they looked at that moment, and he was almost ready to laugh about the way they were looking at him -- but then he came back to himself; he knew that those thoughts were quite evil, caused by the Shadow of Darkness. Things that would surely repeat.  
  
"Can't you see it, Hermione? The Shadow of Darkness affected me all the time... Its effects start to show! You know that I wouldn't say something like this normally."  
  
Hermione looked at Harry, and she looked like she was fitting everything in her head to find it by herself.  
  
"The shadow made me say this... the shadow did all these things to me," Harry continued. "This -- damn -- spell is the thing that made me attack Ron! It was the thing that made me fear of becoming dark -- because it DOES make me dark."  
  
Ron looked at Harry stunned. "The shadow --", he started, but ne never finished his sentence -- he was very surprised and it hit him hard.  
  
The next moment, Harry saw that Cho came to the Gryffindow table to listen to them."What happened?" she asked.  
  
"Harry has... Harry has just realized what the Shadow does," said Hermione.  
  
"The shadow of Darkness," said Harry again, "It is the most terrible thing I could think of. It's the cause of all those things that were happening to me lately."  
  
"What does it do to you?" Cho asked in a lower voice.  
  
"Remember those times when I thought I were going to go dark?" he asked.  
  
"Of course I do."  
  
"They were true." Cho's facial expression became one of terror. "The Shadow does make me dark."  
  
All Cho managed to say was a very weak "No". Harry was looking at her, thinking that if he would go dark he would never manage to see her the way he wanted to see her. If he really went dark, everything in the first part of his life would be lost. He learnt from the Death Eaters that evil wizards don't care about anything. And that meant that he wouldn't care anymore of any of his friends.  
  
"I know you will manage to fight it," Cho said but she was more trying to convince herself that those words were true. "Oh, it's... terrible!"  
  
"I will go, kill Voldemort and become his replacement --" Harry said but he was stopped by Hermione.  
  
"You won't! That's what the Shadow of Darkness wants you to do -- that doesn't mean that you will really --"  
  
"Yes it does," Harry contradicted her, and he saw that everyone around them who listened seemed to agree with him. If it was a spell as strong as they say it is, than Harry could bring no opposition -- and he was only 15.  
  
After a long pause, while everyone around them went silent, Cho continued.  
  
"And... what will we do? There must be something ti be done..."  
  
There was only one thing that could help, and Harry didn't know that. And that thing was to stop the spell -- if there was any way to cure the Shadow of Darkness Harry would be saved, though he would never be like he was before until its effects are cancelled, too. But stopping the spell action didn't cure everything. He was already evil, only a small bit, but he knew he was, and everyone around him could be one of his victims at anytime if he would start attacking.  
  
"We must go and talk to Dumbledore," Harry said. "The fact that we went out at night wouldn't matter anymore now. We know what we are up against. But we do not know who casted the Shadow of Darkness..."  
  
"Or what," Hermione continued.  
  
"Or what," Harry repeated, nodding. "And... how to cure it? I bet Dumbledore has no idea about it. And if he won't know, then nobody will -- not even Madam Pomfrey."  
  
The staff didn't seem to notice anything strange at the Gryffindor table. Dumbledore was talking to Professor McGonagall, laughing every now and then; Flitwick was busy levitating the food and directing it to the other teachers' mouths; and the others were just eating silently from either their plates of from Flitwick's levitating food.  
  
"I guess I'll go now," Harry said, leaving the Great Hall and his friends there. He decided to go to Dumbledore's round office, and tried to remember the password. After almost one minute of thinking, he remembered that it was 'Canary Creams', words which he said to the gargoyle sitting on front of the office stairs.  
  
As he was going up with the moving stairs, he saw the door opening and Dumbledore waiting in front of it.  
  
"Harry, Good evening."  
  
"Good evening, professor."  
  
"Anything new?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"Yes," Harry continued, asking himself how to start with. "Er -- should I start with the most important information or with the beginning?"  
  
"However you want."  
  
"Well... I guess that you found out about my worries about the Shadow of Darkness..."  
  
"Unfortunately, I did not," Dumbledore answered, and that answer surprised Harry a bit. He thought that Dumbledore would eventually find out -- he had a lack of finding out about everything. "The Shadow of Darkness, you say?"  
  
"Yes professor -- We found out that someone would use the spell on me." Seeing that Harry stopped, Dumbledore told him to continue. "And today I found out that it was used on me. It affected me all along."  
  
Dumbledore didn't say anything while thinking, and then, he slowly answered, "The Shadow of an ancient spell. It was believed that no one knew anything about it and that it was completely forgotten. But there were a few wizards who still knew about it, and they kept it secret. For example, I know that it exists -- but I have no idea what it does. There are rumors that some artifacts had the spell casted on them. And some say that some very strong Dark Wizards know about it, too, but none of these ideas are confirmed yet."  
  
"They are..." said Harry. "I know I have the Shadow of Darkness casted on me, and I know its effects. The only thing I don't know is... who casted it."  
  
"Or what," Dumbledore continued. "So, what does it do?"  
  
"It... turns me dark."  
  
Dumbledore didn't seem to be very surprised about the effects, nor did he seem worried about that. "I thought so," he continued, "I knew it had to do something terrible to whoever it was casted on..."  
  
"Professor, I will turn dark," said Harry, seeing that he didn't seem to care at all. But maybe he already knew how to cure it, because Dumbledore wouldn't act like that when he was talking about something as important as that.  
  
"Or maybe not, Harry. You can't possibly turn dark. I guess it's time to tell you a few things which you should've known all along, Harry." That was enough to start Harry's curiosity; he remembered the moment in his first year when Dumbledore said that he would find out why Voldemort wanted to kill him when he was old enough. Maybe it was the time for that?  
  
Or maybe it wasn't.  
  
"When your parents died, in that night, you know that I immediately sent Hagrid to take you from Godric's Hollow. At that moment, he brought you to me, and all the Hogwarts teachers casted several protection spells on you. Mine was the most interresting idea -- I casted a spell that prevented you to do as we thought Sirius did -- a spell that prevented you from becoming dark. With that spell, it's almost impossible for you to do any evil things."  
  
But that couldn't be true. Harry knew that he already turned a bit evil -- why did he attack Ron if it wasn't as he said?  
  
Dumbledore didn't say that it was impossible, he said it was almost impossible... or maybe what he felt wasn't what the spell had to do -- maybe he had so much resistance to the Shadow so the effect of turning him dark only affected him a bit? Was it just that or was Dumbledore wrong?  
  
Harry fixed his thoughts on the first ideas. He had never seen Dumbledore doing anything wrong before... so maybe he was right that time, too. But it was hard to believe that a spell could turn him dark only in a month...  
  
He couldn't realize what the real thing was.  
  
"I didn't want to tell you that from the beginning, because you could use that a lot -- it could be a lot of help in your, let's call them rulebreaking activities. But I see that you aren't stopped from doing things like that even with this. Take an example the search you did to find the Death Eater only a few nights ago."  
  
Those words took Harry by surprise. How in the world could Dumbledore know what they had done in that night?  
  
"Yes, Harry, I know what you've done there. It's almost impossible to miss a thing like that -- especially with this." Dumbledore looked at a shelf from nearby, and with an "Accio", he summoned a piece of parchment Harry hadn't seem for almost an year. It was the Marauder's Map.  
  
Seeing his precious map, he stared at it, remembering the adventures he went in when he had that map. He couldn't find words to thank Fred and George for giving that -- but he didn't deserve it. He lost it... he wondered if Dumbledore would give him the map back -- but those thoughts were lost so fast when something came to his mind...  
  
Couldn't they just find the Death Eater on the map? If Dumbledore had it all along, why didn't he do anything to help? Why did he allow the Death Eater to attack so many times, when he always knew where the attacker was?  
  
Could Dumbledore be on the same side with the Death Eater?  
  
Of course he couldn't.  
  
But then -- what was happening?  
  
"I know what you think, Harry," Dumbledore continued. "Why didn't I use the map against the Death Eater. It's simple. I suppose that he already knew about the map, and he managed to hide himself from it. I have no idea how he did that because this map has a very strong detection charm planted on it. I guess he casted a spell similar to the spells that make some place unplottable, so they can't be shown on a map. This map couldn't see him -- but I know no unplottable living creatures."  
  
That was enough to explain to Harry everything that bothered him about Dumbledore being a traitor. Harry had the feeling that Dumbledore could read his mind again when Harry could see the headmaster's smile after saying those words -- his smile fitted with Harry's thoughts of seeing Dumbledore evil.  
  
"Well, I guess that you will still have to wait until you will find out more things about yourself and about your family. I would tell you lots of things, nothing would stop me from doing it, but -- there is only one problem." Harry looked at Dumbledore, curious. "It's that... I don't know, either."  
  
That really confused Harry - how could that be; Dumbledore didn't know what Harry's parents did while they were alive? Weren't they aurors?  
  
It seemed that Dumbledore didn't -- and that meant they weren't aurors. It would have been impossible if even Dumbledore didn't know...  
  
And if Dumbledore didn't know, it meant that no one did.  
  
They stood there in silence for quite a long time; Harry was thinking about possible things about himself and his family. If no one knew them, then how could he know?  
  
That question may have had an answer... because it was himself who they were talking about. If he couldn't find out more about his very own parents, then how could others?  
  
But how could him... he and his parents weren't the same person.  
  
After long time of thinking, Harry was ready to leave for the Gryffindor Tower. It was becoming late, and he had classes the next day. And it was very hard to think up of all those things -- so many troubles he had. It was nothing he could do -- just to wait until the Death Eater would find him, and everything would be explained.  
  
But, before he left, Dumbledore stopped him.  
  
"Harry, I think you need this." He summoned the piece of parchment Harry was thinking about and handed him the Marauser'd Map.  
  
Harry was grateful of that -- it could help him when searching for the Death Eater again -- because he knew that they had to do it again. That was his only chance of avoiding the teachers.  
  
Looking on the map, he saw that Dumbledore was right all along -- the Death Eater was nowhere to be found. Looking at his map, he just started walking to the Gryffindor Tower, where he would have a good sleep. A good sleep because he found something at last -- he found out what the Shadow of Darkness was.  
  
The common Room wasn't empty; lots of students were still there. Harry didn't do anything than to ignore them, and passed to the fifth year dormitory, where he hoped he would have a good night's sleep. Entering the dormitory, he saw that Seamus and Dean were there, sleeping.  
  
But his night didn't go well. He just sat on his bed, because he didn't want to sleep yet -- he wanted to give more thoughts to the situation, even though it seemed that he had never thought of something more than all these thoughts that were haunting him lately.  
  
He just looked at the wall in front of him, picturing himself fighting Voldemort. And when he was imagining a moment of intense pain from another Crucio, he heard it again -- the voice that was making his insides freeze in panic.  
  
"It's enough thinking about that," the voice said.  
  
"Who are you?" Harry asked.  
  
"I can't say that it's none of your business, because it is, but it doesn't matter who I am."  
  
"Then what are you," Harry continued. "Is it better said?"  
  
"Maybe... but it doesn't matter either. You'll figure out soon what I am. I just wanted to tell you that Dumbledore didn't seem to tell the truth when he said that it's impossible for you to go dark."  
  
"He did tell the truth," Harry said not wanting to give up.  
  
"You wish. I know that you wish it could be as simple as that, but you know he didn't say what he needed."  
  
"NO!"  
  
"What no?"  
  
"He was right," Harry continued.  
  
"I know what you think, Harry Potter, because you can't hide your feelings from me. You can't hide anything from me."  
  
"How would that be possible?"  
  
"You know it is."  
  
"I DON'T!" Harry shouted, and after that, he heard Seamus saying something. But the voice didn't seem to give up --  
  
"You know that you are already partially dark, you know it as much as I do."  
  
"You don't," Harry told the voice, but then --  
  
"What?" Seamus asked. "Why did you have to scream?"  
  
That was very strange. Didn't he hear the voice? Harry remembered the basilisk, which only he couldn't hear. Was it another serpent talking to him?  
  
"He can't hear me," the voice assured Harry. "Well, See you another time... soon," it continued and it didn't say another word after that.  
  
Harry looked at Seamus, but he wasn't thinking of an answer to his question -- he was only thinking of three things --  
  
First, was the speaker a serpent again? Second, what was it so it knew everything Harry was thinking... Third, was it telling the truth?  
  
But the last question was quite obvious. Harry knew that he was dark already, and he could do nothing to help it -- it seemed like it wasn't him who was taking decisions. The fact that he attacked Ron was quote convincing if he thought in that way -- and the way he blew up on Hermione...  
  
...and the way she acted in those moments.  
  
It was only then when Harry realized that Hermione's unusual actions had to have a connection -- the Shadow of Darkness. She blew up on Malfoy once, with a de-hairing spell; then she acted very strange to Harry a few times -- not only the time before he heard the scary voice for the first time.  
  
But how did they get the spell?  
  
He decided that it wasn't time to go to tell to the others about the new things -- it was better if he left it for the nexy day. He told Seamus that it was a nightmare, and then he went to sleep. 


	17. The Voice of the Shadow

Chapter 17: The Voice of the Shadow  
  
Hermione and Cho seemed quite scared when Harry told them about the voice. It was a very strange thing, but Harry had a strange feeling that the voice wasn't doing any bad thing, quite on the contrary; he felt that it would help them in the future. That was, unless the feeling was the result of another dark art.  
  
Ron hadn't taken the news of the voice as bad as Hermione and Cho had. He seemed to agree with Harry that it may be of help -- though they weren't sure how much help it could give them. But they couldn't guess what the voice was and why it was there. And the most controversed thing was if the shadow was on their side or on the enemies'. Hermione and Cho didn't believe that it could help them -- Hermione kept telling Harry that Voldemort would've thought about that and prevented it.  
  
Hermione came with a strange idea -- fearing that Harry may be affected by the Shadow of Darkness again, she learned a few spells she could use on him in case that Harry started to act as the evil one. The only thing Harry was blaming himself lately was that he didn't tell Hermione that she was affected by the Shadow of Darkness, too. He didn't know how she would take it, or what she would do if she found out...  
  
But then he asked himself another thing. What could happen if both of them began to be controlled by the Shadow of Darkness at the same time? Would they do something stupid? They could be expelled...  
  
That won't be happening, Harry convinced himself.  
  
The worst thing was that he didn't know how the Shadow of Darkness worked. If one spell couldn't possess more people at once, it would be good. But what was the chance?  
  
None. The Death Eater said it was a passive spell, so it didn't need to be casted by someone -- or by something... So it could happen at any time. He didn't want to imagine himself lose his mind completely -- the Shadow wsa affecting him more and more with each passing day. His visions of himself turning dark were forming again in front of his eyes. Every night he had only a dream: He saw himself in the Great Hall running, cursing the ones he hated the most: the slytherins, and after that some people were trying to stop him -- he stopped them, too -- Hermione joined him, too, the effects of the Shadow of darkness were showing upon her, too, then he saw Dumbledore in front of him, saying that he would be expelled from Hogwarts, only for safety measures.  
  
Everytime he saw Malfoy, he had an urge to curse him. He felt that the Shadow was affenting him so much lately that it would be a very bad idea to go out of the Gryffindor Tower.  
  
He didn't want to talk to Dumbledore either. He had another strange feeling that told him that it wouldn't be a good idea to talk to him, and that something would happen.  
  
But then what did he have to do?  
  
Many days had passed until he had another important talk with his friends. Hermione got Cho and wanted to talk with Harry on a Tuesday, just after they finished Charms. She knew that it would be a great idea to talk about the effects of the Shadow of Darkness after everything that happened to Harry the past week. Harry thought it was a good idea if he warned Hermione that she seemed to be affected by the Shadow of Darkness, too.  
  
They said they would meet in a deserted classroom on the 4th floor. That was a classroom he had never been inside.  
  
As soon as he opened the door, he saw Hermione, Ron and Cho waiting for him.  
  
"At last," said Hermione.  
  
"Hi," said Cho. Harry didn't say anything, instead he just nodded.  
  
"Now that we're here at last," said Hermione, "it's time to think about the Shadow's effects. They really start to show -- a lot, Harry. I arranged this because we had to talk -- Harry, I think you..."  
  
"I what?" Harry asked.  
  
"I think you are going mad! Don't yell at me or anything like that, I am sure you are aware --"  
  
"I know, Hermione! I don't need any morale for this. I know their effects perfectly well -- I bet I know them better than you do."  
  
"Maybe. But the way you always look at Malfoy when you enter the Great Hall -- it's... just... so strange; I've never seen you --"  
  
"You've never seen me affected by the Shadow of Darkness before," Harry stopped her. "And I know perfectly well that this cannot be stopped -- unless we find someone who knows about the spell and its effects."  
  
"Come on, Hermione," said Ron, "If you were affected by a spell like that do you think that you won't be aware of it making you different?"  
  
"No, I don't mean --"  
  
"Stop," said Harry. He was going to tell her about the shadow affecting her. But at the same time, he knew that she wouldn't believe him. She wasn't aware of the spell affecting her at all. Ron was wrong, and that meant that he, Harry, did things that he wasn;'t aware of...  
  
But it couldn't be possible.  
  
"I just wanted to say something that I realized, Hermione," he continued. But after those words, he didn't know ho to put it -- how could he make it convincing even for someone who doesn't feel affected at all?  
  
"And that is?" she asked.  
  
"I don't know how to say it. And I know that you won't accept it, from what I know." Thinking for a few seconds, he decided to start it with other things -- things that had a connection with what he wanted to say. "I have to say that Ron was wrong."  
  
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. "Do you say that you aren't aware of what you did lately?"  
  
"No, not that. I mean another thing." All three were looking at him very interrested. He didn't feel in the mood of saying it, but now that he made them so interrested, he had to continue. "I mean, the Death Eater was right when he said that I were not the only one affected by the Shadow."  
  
Hermione made one step forward to him. She continued in a very touching voice, "In a way of saying it, I know it, Harry."  
  
"You do?" Harry asked.  
  
"What do you mean?" Ron asked.  
  
"Isn't it obvious?" Harry asked. "Well, you weren't there all the times -- Hermione acted very strange more than once. Remember the way she made Malfoy's hair leave his head? Haven't you seen the curse she used? It was not the spell as I knew it. She definitely didn't say Scurtupa, as I know the incantation is."  
  
"What are you trying to tell?" Ron asked, even more confused, but Harry saw that someone around seemed to understand.  
  
Cho was looking at the ground, and he could see in her eyes that she was thinking deeply at something. Then, she continued, "Yes."  
  
"What?" Ron asked again.  
  
"The Shadow not only makes us dark, but sometimes it modifies our instincts," Harry continued.  
  
"She used a Dark Art," Cho continued. "I - I know it, I heard the spell before." She sighed, and then continued. "The incantation Hermione used was 'Parrum lilitis'." She closed her eyes, and Harry understood that it grought her back a sad memory. "The spell..." but she stopped.  
  
Harry wanted to know what happened, and why she became so sad when talking about that spell, but he felt it was better if he didn't. She didn't want to say it, and he decided that it was her right to say it when she wanted. Harry could see a tear fall on her face slowly.  
  
"I don't feel like talking about that now," she said. "But... the spell is a dark art, and that means the Shadow of Darkness has already started to affect you, Hermione."  
  
"No!" said Ron. "What is this? A Dark Wizard academy?"  
  
"Ron, you don't understand it!" Harry said, revolted. "Very dark stuff is beyond all this -- it's nothing we can to against that except... wait and see."  
  
"So who casted the spell?" Hermione asked, changing the subject. She seemed to be fighting an interior battle -- she knew that the Shadow of Darkness was affecting her.  
  
"I have no idea," said Harry. "But... I'd have another question. Remember the blank pages in the Dark book of Dark Arts?"  
  
"Yes," said Hermione.  
  
"I should see this book," said Cho. "It maybe interresting. You keep talking about it but I've never read anything from it."  
  
"Yes, I'll show it to you after this... erm... meeting," said Harry. "Now, I wonder if these blank pages contained informations about the Shadow of Darkness. They're too suspicious, what could make a book have blank pages? Only if somebody wanted them hidden."  
  
"So do you reckon that the person who casted the Shadow of Darkness... erased those pages in the book?" Ron asked.  
  
"It may well be," said Harry, thinking about it. Why would he want to erase the pages containing the Shadow? He didn't erase anything else -- not the informations about the memory modification spells, nothing... He didn't hide the spells he used on Harry, he just erased the Shadow of Darkness...  
  
If there was information about the Shadow of Darkness. Nothing was sure at those moments.  
  
"What should we do about the spell's effects?" Harry asked.  
  
"I guess..." said Cho, "I guess we should try to -- er -- stop them with something -- or, no, we'd better make sure you won't do anything bad -- I think we should always... stay around you and in case that something happens -- we should try to -- just -- stun you or something... or maybe we should cast a memory charm..."  
  
"No way!" said Hermione. "Memory charms should only be used by experts, and even experts may make mistakes with it. We know that they can damage the target's memory forever... and we don't want that to happen, do we?"  
  
"Of course not," said Cho. "But then we have to do something. I guess the Petrificus Totalus spell is enough."  
  
Harry didn't like the idea of being petrified by his own friends, but he had no alternative. Cho was right, Something had to be done, and that seemed the best thing they could do. After all, it was got his own good. Then something came to his mind again --  
  
"And what about Hermione?" he asked.  
  
"Well, I..." Hermione said, not finding words, "I -- er, I think I am not that affected --"  
  
"HERMIONE!" Harry shouted, "Wake up! You are affected by the spell, too, and you know it!"  
  
"Right," she continued. "Do the same wiht me as you do with Harry... So we must always go in group in case that the Shadow makes us do unwanted things..."  
  
"So I think it's settled," said Cho. "I won't be able to come with you because I'm in Ravenclaw, but I guess Ron is enough, right?"  
  
The three of them looked at Ron, who seemed very confused. "No, I don't think --"  
  
"Yes, he is enough to take care of us," said Hermione, giving Ron a Can't-you-ever-do-something-good look.  
  
The next few days passed in a so strange way. It seemed like they passed in no time at all. On thursday, Harry remembered about the voice he heard.  
  
He recalled the moments he heard that mysterious voice. The first time, he felt like he had nothing better to do than sit there and wait for something to happen. The second time, he sat, trying to think -- or to not think -- of himself turning evil. There were so much similarities in those two encounters...  
  
What if he got another chance to talk to the voice? That time he would manage to find something more important from it...  
  
Recalling those moments again, he realized how they happened. As a conclusion, he sat on his four-poster and looked strainght into the opposite wall. That was what he did both of the times when the voice started speaking to him. If he only got the chance to talk with it again... If he was right and the voice started talking to him everytime he sat there looking at the opposite wall...  
  
Ten minutes passed, but nothing happened. He just told himself, I must keep going. He knew that it had to work -- it couldn't be another way, only if it wa a total coincidence, an option he didn't want to believe.  
  
Twenty minutes passed. He worried more and more about himself turning dark. He pictured himself fighting Ron, Hermione and Cho... all three of them... It looked like he could see them on the wall... He wouldn't ever do that, he knew he wouldn't...  
  
Half an hour passed. He felt an urge to leave the room immediately, but he knew he had to stay there. It felt like something didn't want him to talk with the voice... Maybe Voldemort realized that the voice could help Harry too much and he casted a spell that made Harry leave the room...  
  
Fourty-five minutes passed. Everything seemed so dark, he could still see the shadows if him and his friends fighting on the wall opposite. He managed to get that image oout of his mind again -- he had to talk to the Voice of the Shadow...  
  
A few minutes passed... The door to the dormitory opened, and Ron came inside, looking at Harry as if he was looking at a Hermione who didn't want to read a book. But he had to be ignored, Ron couldn't just stop him from talking with the strange voice...  
  
And then he heard it again. Ron was still looking transfixed at him, but Harry didn't care; he was too happy that he managed to bring the voice again.  
  
"Harry Potter, I see you found me this time."  
  
"I did," Harry said.  
  
"Took you long enough to realize how you can contact me."  
  
"It's not that long," he continued. Ron was looking at him with a Should-I-get-Madam-Pomfrey face. "Oh, I forgot that you can't hear it," Harry pointed out to Ron.  
  
"You hear it again?" Ron asked.  
  
But Harry didn't reply to Ron -- he was busy at that moment. The voice was waiting for him, and he had lots of questions to ask. He was sure that it would tell him some things he didn't know.  
  
"So will you ever tell me what you are?" Harry asked the voice.  
  
"I can't hide it from you anymore. I watched you for so much time, Harry Potter. I know what you will do if I won't tell you what I am, because your personality shows it very well. You'll do everything possible to find me. But, no matter for how long you will search for anything on me, you won't find a bit. Because you can't find anything on the Shadow of Darkness either."  
  
Harry wanted to say something, but no words came to his head. He couldn't think of anything on the moment. But his felings told him right, the voice would tell him everything.  
  
"I see you are so impatient. I don't want you to shout at me if you will get too angry. So let's start with it. I am not a creature, I am no physycal thing. I am just a spell casted on your head. I mean, I am a side effect of an ancient spell casted on you."  
  
"The shadow of darkness..." Harry said. Ron was looking at him, eager for the moment Harry would tell him everything to come.  
  
"Good guess. I am an unwanted side effect of the Shadow of Darkness. Lord Voldemort didn't want me to appear with the spell, but he had no choice. That is the spell, it is cast upon a weaker mind and makes the vicrim turn dark in a very short time. But you didn't turn dark, though the shadow is affecting you for a few months. The spell only attacked the weaker minds. And I will tell you that you are no weak mind.  
  
"Back to the spell, I am just a voice that is on no side. I am not evil, nor good. I would help the victim as much as I would help the caster. But I can't help the caster. I just can't."  
  
"You mean Voldemort?"  
  
"Voldemort?" the voice laughed. "Voldemort? The caster?" It laughed even more. "It takes a wizard ten times more skilled than Voldemort to cast the Shadow of Darkness!"  
  
Harry froze. That meant Voldemort had a very powerful ally. Was him the second in command that Avery talked about when they used Veritaserum on him?  
  
It couldn't be, it just couldn't. He met that second in command only a few days ago. And he said that it wasn't him who casted the Shadow of Darkness. And Harry was sure that he didn't lie, because he didn't look that strong to be ten times stronger than Voldemort.  
  
But who could be that person?  
  
"So... who casted the spell?" Harry asked.  
  
"It is not possible to tell you. This is the only thing I can't tell you about."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"The spell is made like this. I know what casted the spell, but I can't talk about it."  
  
"So it's not a person then." The voice used the word 'what', not who. But what could cast the Shadow of Darkness then?  
  
"Good. That was a nice thinking. And you are right. It can be anything in this castle -- just think about it."  
  
This time it was impossible to not know what casted the spell. It could only be one thing. "That cursed book!" Harry said. "It's the Dark Book of Dark Arts that makes me turn dark... and Hermione, too."  
  
He felt like everything was wasier to understand at the moment, because he knew everything. Well, he thought he knew everything -- no unanswered questions could come into his mind at the moment. He didn't know what to do -- he felt like telling Hermione about it, but the voice of the shadow could tell him some things he didn't know.  
  
"I see you understood it well, Harry. And know that as long as the shadow is affecting you, I will always live inside your very head, collecting every information you think. Don't worry, I will keep your secrets to death -- because nobody else can listen to me, can they?  
  
"Now, as a last thing to say for this time. If you want to talk to me, don't try this looking-at-the-wall thing because it confuses me completely. No new informations happening -- I'm so bored of staying and looking at the wall... That's why I wanted to talk to you. Now, if you want to talk to me, just ask, okay?"  
  
"Ask?" Harry asked.  
  
"In your thoughts. You may call me 'the voice of the shadow'. I can hear every thought in your head, remember?"  
  
"Yes," Harry said, and then he heard a strange sound even he couldn't describe -- it sounded strangely like the wind but, still, so different. That was the sign that the voice left him alone. It returned to the middle of his brain, waiting to collect more informations from Harry's life.  
  
He turned to Ron. "It's gone," Harry said. "I talked to the voice long enough."  
  
"S-So? What did you talk this time?"  
  
"It -- I'm not in the mood to tlak about it right now. I'll -- I'll tell you tomorrow," Harry told Ron, feeling more tired with every passing moment.  
  
He became very sleepy so soon. And then he heard a voice in his head. It was very similar to the Voice of the Shadow.  
  
"Boo," it said.  
  
Then he could hear a loud scream, telling him that the voice scared somebody. But if it was the Voice of the Shadow, it couldn't leave Harry's mind, could it?  
  
"Don't be afraid of me, girl," the voice said. There was a short pause, and the the voice continued. I know why you are scared -- but don't."  
  
"W - W - What are... y - you?" a very scared girl's voice asked.  
  
"Who cares," the voice said. "Let's call me... a mysterious voice."  
  
"v - voice?" the girl asked. "Ooohh are y - you the same voice -- H - Harry heard?"  
  
"Not the same, but the same type," the voice said. "Each of you has his own voice. Well, Harry's voice just told him what it is."  
  
Harry realized by then that the girl was Hermione. Her voice of the shadow started talking to her, too, just as Harry's started to talk to him.  
  
"You can hear us because you are the only ones affected by the Shadow of Darkness. We voices of the shadow are very strange things, Hermione Granger."  
  
"Voices of the Shadow?" Hermione asked.  
  
"That's how we are called."  
  
Then, Harry could hear another voice that he recognized as Parvati's -- "Hermione? Y'all right?"  
  
A terrible silence followed that moments. The first one to talk was the voice. "She can't hear me."  
  
"Oh," Hermione said.  
  
"Well, I'll leave you here, Hermione -- Harry knows more about me. He may tell you. You know, I don't want them to think that you started talking to yourself. Hear you soon!"  
  
Harry woke up instantly, and he immediately jumped to his feet. It was just a dream, he couldn't see anything because it was dark. He heard everything Hermione could hear... the voice of the shadow talked to her at last, so Harry felt it was better to go and find her -- he needed to talk to her.  
  
But he didn't have to find her, she found him just when he exited the staircases that lead to the dormitories.  
  
When he saw her, he thought she was going to faint. She was trembling so hard Harry wondered how she managed to stay on her feet. Luckily, she didn't fall and neither fainted, so Harry looked at her breathing heavily, thinking if he should start talking or wait until she would do it.  
  
"H - Harry," Hermione said and then stopped.  
  
"I know," Harry said. "Don't worry, it's nothing to be scared about."  
  
"It's so frightening, Harry!" she continued, still trembling.  
  
"I know how it is," Harry continued. "I heard it so many times."  
  
"Harry, I'm --"  
  
"However you are, don't. Everything turned up to be better then we expected."  
  
"W-Why?"  
  
"Because I know who casted the spell."  
  
Hermione seemed to stop trembling for a few seconds. Even her voice started to feel more normal when she told him, "You solved the mystery?"  
  
"You may say that," he answered. He was glad that Hermione stopped trembling, because she was giving him freaks. "The voice of the Shadow told it to me... almost everything..."  
  
"The voice, Harry, it's so scary!" Hermione said. "I've just heard it --"  
  
"I know," he answered, "I had a dream and I heard you and your voice."  
  
"I thought I was the only one that could hear it?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Maybe not, if I could hear it in the dream. But I'm positive that it can't be heard in the real world -- only these dreams I have."  
  
"Okay, okay," Hermione told Harry, making a sign with her hands that told him to change the subject. "So who casted the spell? This is a very important thing for us --"  
  
"It was not who, it was a what."  
  
"WHAT CASTED IT?" Hermione asked, ready to punch Harry if he didn't tell her.  
  
"Damn, Hermione, this shadow affects you --"  
  
But that was enough to make Hermione cast a spell on Harry. He didn't hear the incantation, but he saw a white light blow from her and and shooting to him. He was so close that ce couldn't dodge it, and after it hit him, strangely, it didn't seem to do anything.  
  
"What was that?" Harry asked. Hermione seemed back to normal. But, waiting for the question, he answered, "The Dark Book of Dark Arts."  
  
"What's with it?" Hermione asked. "Oh," she said, after realizing what question Harry answered.  
  
"What spell did you just cast?"  
  
"I wonder, too, but I guess it was a truth spell -- made you answer my question, didn't it?"  
  
"Right. Pity that I couldn't hear the incantation, it could come in useful."  
  
"I can remember it -- it was something like Adaverus."  
  
"Adaverus?" he said. "Let's see. Don't answer -- Who is Dumbledore?" he asked, and then he casted the Adaverus spell on Hermione. Soon after he casted the spell, Hermione answered, "The strongest wizard in the world. He is head of Hogwarts, and he found twelve uses of the Deagon's --"  
  
"Stop it, Hermione!"  
  
"-- blood. He is the only one Voldemort --"  
  
"HERMIONE!"  
  
"-- ever feared."  
  
Hermione stopped talking, and she seemed to be back to normal, thing that relieved Harry. He would have found a very long answer for that question, and he thought she wouldn't stop answering the question until she said everything she knew about him.  
  
"Cool," Harry said.  
  
Hermione seemed very surprised. "I've rarely heard you using that word, Harry."  
  
"Yeah, but it's still cool. This spell is excellent -- Who needs a Veritaserum now?"  
  
"Now, Harry, what about the Voice of the Shadow?"  
  
Harry started telling Hermione everything he learned from the Voice of the Shadow. She was so interrested in them -- Harry felt that she was more interrested in them than himself. They were both placed under the Shadow of Darkness, but he didn't feel so anxious to find out everything -- ot was that another effect of the Shadow over him? Maybe it didn't want Harry to know much about its effects and made him less interrested?  
  
But he already knew it all... 


	18. The Dark Book of Dark Arts

Chapter 18: The Dark Book of Dark Arts  
  
Everything was becoming even worse than Harry thought it would be. The memory of the Shadow affecting him was making him more worried than he ever was. He just worried about the Shadow managing to totally conquer him, and that would be the end of everything in the world as he knew it. Voldemort wouldn't focus on Harry anymore, he would go and kill everyone who tries to oppose him in his way to glory.  
  
He even had a few Quidditch Practices for the National Quidditch team, but he used to leave as soon as possible because he couldn't play very well with all the thoughts raging in his head. The Shadow of Darkness could make him take a bad turn at any time, and he knew all it needed to affect him even more was just time.  
  
Time, he said to himself; time. And he could do nothing about any pressing matter...  
  
The only place where he could find peace was the lake. Every time he sat on the cold grass, in the cold air of november, he felt alive and his worries seemed to leave him alone, relaxed... worryless. He enjoyed the feeling when worries always left him alone while he was in that atmosphere... He didn't go to the lake only the morning anymore; he went there in the evenings, too. He met Cho there quite a few times, and he enjoyed spending a morning -- or an evening, deppending on the case -- with the girl he liked. He thought of telling her that he liked her a few times, or to just ask her out in the next Hogsmeade visit, but he could never bring himself to do it. He always felt guilty about Cedric and all that happened at the end of the last year.  
  
Two weeks passed until Harry was reminded that the Quidditch Season was about to start -- and he hand't done any practicing for the upcoming match, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, a match which was only a short time away. He decided it was time to tell the new Gryffindor team to have a meeting discussing their future practises. That was because he wanted to have the Quidditch Cup that year as well.  
  
He told the team that they would have their first practice that year on friday, right after the classes. For that reason he went straight to Professor McGonagall because he needed to book the Quidditch pitch for that day before the Slytherins or another team would.  
  
However, it was not Friday yet, there were two more days to go; two more boring days, that was without counting that Wednesday still wasn't over. He hoped to manage to stay calm in snape's Potions class, where they did potions with so many ingredients it took them all four hours of the Double Potions class to make it, and half of the class didn't manage to finish it -- including Harry.  
  
Divination was the worst class that day because it passed so slow. Although it was one of the most interresting ones, it seemed to pass much longer than the ordinary Divination classes. He hoped his mind would be fine and clear before going to Quidditch Practice, but the Divination class didn't help at all.  
  
The image summoning was becoming worse than Harry firstly anticipated. Now Trelawney started teaching them spells, and not only stupid tea-leaves reading or crystal gazing. Everything now seemed to be more mysterious, each student's spell seemed to predict such things that made the others what exactly that was. Harry even believed all she said in class, with very good reasons, too. It didn't seem just stupid rubbish anymore, it was actually magic.  
  
"Today we will study Advanced Image Summoning," Trelawney said in her usual dreamy voice. "Though I do not expect this of you, this is maybe the only way we will find out the complete truth about the future -- considering that the other ways of predicting may have had erroneous resusts in some cases."  
  
Harry was surprised to hear Trelawney that Divination could have erroneous results, for him that was just admitting that she was more of a fraud.  
  
"As I was saying," Trelawney continued, "The advanced Image Summoning is a very precise branch of future prediction. It's not only that it always says true things, but it shows about whatever we desire. And a very advanced spell tell the future not in a direct way, but through a messenger."  
  
Parvati and Lavender let out an 'oh' that could be heard in the entire classroom quite clearly. Even if Harry started believing what Trelawney said, he could never understand Parvati and Lavender. They admired her ever since their first class, and that made a great difference comparing to Harry, who didn't believe anything until the fifth year.  
  
"Let me give you an example," she said.  
  
"I hope we will predict herself getting into trouble," Ron whispered to Harry.  
  
"Shh!" Harry told Ron and pushed him away. That lesson could be very interresting. If Trelawney told them herself that other future telling ways were not so accurate, and she says this was better, he was sure she`d say true things this time... And he remembered their first Image Summoning class where Harry predicted himself turning evil... That had to be a true prediction, wasn't it? It just showed Harry what was happening to him at that moment... He was indeed turning dark.  
  
Harry was surprised to see that Trelawney put her wand away. "We do not need these for the spell -- not wands, not words. It is a spell that comes straight from the Inner Eye. Now let's see. I will try to predict one thing. How about -- well I will decide later what I want to ask."  
  
She slowly walked to her desk and sat on the chair, closing her eyes slowly. Everything reminded Harry of a Slow Motion version of reality, until he saw her fall in something that looked like a deep sleep, though she was still moving --  
  
Looking again, Harry saw that her chair was moving by itself. He guessed the Shadow of Darkness could have secondary effects, too, just like this communication with the Inner Eye had on the chair Trelawney sat on.  
  
The chair was truly slipping on the floor, heading to the wall in the right -- but with the small speed of the chair nothing could happen. Nothing unusual anyway, Harry thought, imagining Trelawney waking up and realizing that she was laying on the floor, the chair half broken in the wall besides her.  
  
Back to reality, Harry watched her closely, the chair still moving by itself -- he wondered what force pushed it sideways. He didn't see anyone doing a spell, and she said she would only be using her inner eye...  
  
Suddenly, the chair went to a halt just before it hit the dark wall. Trelawney still lay on the chair, but after a few seconds of deep silence, Trelawney lifted off the chair.  
  
Harry felt that he was going numb. What was that ?  
  
Every single student around him had his mouth open. They all stared amazed at the things that happened to Trelawney. Harry had never seen any person flying like that -- the Mobilicorpus didn't seem to ignore gravity as easy as this spell did. Was it a spell or Trelawney was really using her Inner Eye and now she was in a kind of a hypnotize or something?  
  
She opened her eyes, but she didn't look at any of the students gazing at her. She didn't seem to express any feeling through her facial expression. Everyone stared confuzed either at the lifting Trelawney, or at the chair under her that was slowly pulling itself back to the place where it originally was.  
  
Harry felt as if his heart stopped when he saw that she emitted like a golden aura around all her body. It lit the classroom very well, Harry had never seen it as lit as that. He saw exactly how the room was, it was actually a normal classroom. Where there had to be the door was a large painting that he had never seen before -- probably because it was too dark. Or maybe he was always sleepy in class so he never payed attention to it?  
  
The painting represented a tall middle-aged witch wearing dark green robes, holding her wand tightly and pointing it to the sky.  
  
As unexpected as it started, the aura around Trelawney started to wear off. She seemed to be back to a normal state and after a few seconds, still being in the air, the insect-like teacher fell on the floor.  
  
"Ouch," said Ron when Trelawney landed on the floor as if she was falling on another chair. "That had to hurt."  
  
But when Trelawney woke up, they saw that in the place where she was standing after she fell was a witch what looked a much older Trelawney. That had to be the messenger she mentioned at the start of the class.  
  
"Come, help me, if you please," The old Trelawney said in a trembling voice to her much younger version. "Give me a hand."  
  
The teacher helped her older version to get up on her feet. "W - What are you?" Trelawney asked. "I've -- I've never managed to do this spell before!"  
  
"I am just an image of you before you died. Come from the future, know all my past... and I know your present. This present. To warn, just, do you mind, Seamus, of not trying to conjure a snail in this class? You know, you`ll burn the table you are at."  
  
But before Seamus could ask what, he could be heard saying a long incantation, and then the table he was at was set on fire.  
  
"Well, even though I held this class such a long time ago, I could remember it well," the old Trelawney said in a warning voice. "So, Sibyll, I know what you wanted me to ask, I were yourself once... I will answer it for you. Yes, you will get the Order of Merlin, First Class for predicting the truth in many critic situations. Using me, of course... that's for the beginning only anyway.  
  
"Now that I have your question answered, I will have to go. My time is up, see you, my young version!"  
  
And she suddenly disappeared just like vapor.  
  
The entire class went so quiet, even Trelawney Froze. She had a good reason to do it, Harry thought, she managed to do one very complex spell in a class -- a spell she never did before. But why did she show it in front of the class if she knew she wouldn't manage to do it?  
  
Maybe she was such a fraud that she told the students they will learn one thing and she taught them another.  
  
A few minutes passed quietly, nobody managed to find any words, until Trelawney managed to form a sentence.  
  
"I don't give any of you chances of doing this spell," Trelawney managed to say. "Class dismissed," she ordered them.  
  
"So she said she will get an Order of Merlin?" Hermione asked as if it was the most ridiculous idea she ever had. "Because she does some true predictions?"  
  
"Yes, that's what she said --", said Harry but he was stopped again.  
  
"Predicting that she will predict," said Hermione. "How nice. If I'll tell you... If I'll predict that she won't do any proper prediction in the future, will that mean I have a very good Inner Eye? Ha!"  
  
"Hermione, you don't understand. This one was not --"  
  
"Come on, Harry, what's got into you?" Hermione asked exasperately. "This old fraud won't predict --"  
  
"Well, she predicted that Lord Voldemort will be back," Ron continued.  
  
"That was another --"  
  
"Shut it, Hermione!" said Harry angrily. "Just listen! You should have seen her, the spell -- or whatever force she used -- moved her chair, lifted her into the air and made her look like a -- like a... How can I explain that?"  
  
Harry was thinking about the golden aura. If that was the result of communicating with the Inner eye or something, it was much more mysterious than he could have expected.  
  
He did not have much free time because the time for Quidditch practice he wanted so much to come was very close indeed. They had to train their new keeper, Peter Nutstone. He did the keeping quite well in the training session, he was quite skilled at flying and he had the gift for catching the Quaffle. His only problem was dodging the bludgers, an art where he had managed to get hit quite hard several times. However, he didn't get hurt at either of the impacts.  
  
The Gryffindors practiced almost every day, Harry knew they needed some very serious practicing to beat the slytherins that year. He didn't have enough time for homework, but he never went to class without having it done. He was very thankful to Hermione for that.  
  
In another two weeks the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match was to be played. Harry had another mushy Saturday Morning where he felt like doing anything except eating breakfast; the upcoming match would be the first one of the season, and the first one where he was captain!  
  
And he didn't play a Quidditch Match for a long time... only practices but that was nothing like having a normal match. Last year there was no Quidditch because they had the Triwizard Tournament, cancelling all Quidditch throughout the season.  
  
As they went to the locker rooms, Harry felt very hungry making him feel angry on himself because he refused to eat anything. With everyone around him asking him to eat, why in the world didn't he accept it? If only he knew how hungry he would be a few minutes after...  
  
After they had all dressed, he had to replace Oliver Wood's speech about the following match -- but he had nothing at all to tell the team. He was thinking of anything, but he couldn't decide on what to say. So he decided not to say anything important.  
  
"I hope you`re all ready for this match, team," Harry said, "because we can't afford to lose in front of the Slytherins... Peter, are you feeling alright?"  
  
"Yes, it's nothing... Just a bit nervous," Peter answered.  
  
"Yeah, I know how it is. I can remember my first time quite well."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Nothing really. Someone was trying to put a jinx on my broom, making me almost fall off it..."  
  
"And?"  
  
"Well... well, except for the frightening, it was quite cool."  
  
"Really amusing, wasn't it?" asked Fred sarcastically. "You should encourage your team mates not make them feel worse!"  
  
"Well, whatever. Now, know that we really need to win this game... I hope we will do it. We practiced long enough, you all did excellent -- I will not accept a loss. Play fair, it's the only way we can beat the hell out of those nasty cheating slytherins. Now, let's go."  
  
And with that, they all headed off to the Quidditch Pitch. The Slytherin team was already there, booing the Gryffindors as they were walking towards the middle of the pitch. Harry could see that the stands were as usual -- the only ones who supported the slytherin team were the slytherins themselves, all others supported Gryffindor.  
  
Harry was looking in the crowd to spot his friends and supporters. The first one that came into sight was Hagrid himself, because he was taking quite many seats in the crowd. But no matter how much he searched the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw crowds, he didn't manage to spot Hermione nor Cho.  
  
They must be here anyway, Harry said to himself, and with that in mind, he mounted his broom on Madam hooch's command, and took some height. He had to shake hands with the Slytherin captain, and Harry didn't realize if it was him or Malfoy who was closer to breaking the other's hand in the grip.  
  
Lee Jordan was, as always, commentating the match. The game began in a quite short time, and in a few seconds Harry was back to a world he enjoyed very much. He was flying again, playing Quidditch... he would be enoying beating the Slytherins once again, he knew it, he knew that there was nothing that could go wrong with the Gryffindor team. Peter Nutstone did very well in his training, he managed to defend ninety percent of the quaffles thrown by Angelina, Alicia and Katie at him.  
  
In the first few minutes, neither of the teams scored -- both the Gryffindor and Slytherin keepers seemed to do their job very well.  
  
"Just don't start to act like a mad evil wizard this time, will you, Potter?" asked Malfoy as he flew past Harry, with such a speed Harry could barely see him.  
  
But how in the bloody world did Malfoy know that, Harry asked himself, but it couldn't be hard for him to know after all those Divination classes predicting his Evil Transformation. He was feeling quite optimistic because he did not have any bursts in the past few weeks, and he never even got close to the Dark Book of Dark Arts.  
  
Harry went to look for the Snitch anyway, going around the Quidditch Pitch and sometimes catching Malfoy's eye, which was showing Harry an enormous hatred.  
  
As he was thinking of Malfoy, the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw seats were suddenly all filled up with happy echoing voices, as Angelina Johnson managed to pass the Quaffle through the Slytherin goalposts.  
  
Harry was back to looking after the Snitch, which was nowhere to be seen yet. As he was flying around the Pitch, he felt a Bludger pass only by inches near his head -- he turned to see who shot it and saw Fred who was trying to say "Sorry" in the distance.  
  
"Fred, be careful!" Harry heard Angelina say with a very angry voice, "This is all we need now! Harry out and this game is lost!"  
  
The Gryffindors scored twice, and Harry saw Fred aiming his bludgers at the Slytherin Keeper constantly after the previous incident. George did the same, and Harry just wished they would make him fall off his broom or something, that was what the Slytherins wanted to happen to the Gryffindors anyway.  
  
Peter, the new Gryffindor keeper, managed to do some quite good defending, as the enemy Chasers shot the Quaffle many times in just a few seconds, and he blocked them all. But at another strike, he failed to stop it and as a result the Slytherins scored. The score was thirty to ten for Gryffindor.  
  
A few minutes later, Katie and Alicia shot towards the Slytherin goal posts, and as Katie shot the Quaffle and the Slytherin Keeper tried to save it, a well-aimed Bludger missed him and distraught him, but immediately after, it hit the goalposts and came straight back to him, hitting him hard in the back of the head.  
  
"Take that, you filthy cheating bastards --" Harry could hear Lee's comments, but then Professor McGonagall told him off again.  
  
"Right, professor -- the Gryffindors score and lead the game with fourty points, while the Slytherins have only ten -- and no keeper, so we Gryffindors think of a really nice win after all..."  
  
The Gryffindors scored with no big problems when the goalposts were keeper-free, so they had more than a hundred points in a quite short time. But still the Snitch was nowhere to be found, and Harry was looking around hoping dumbly to see it before Malfoy did.  
  
Harry dodged a few bludgers shot at him, this time by the fierce stupid Slytherins, and suddenly, he almost fell off his broom when he heard a very scary unexpected voice in his ear that made him froze, saying "This is a warning..."  
  
Getting back in a comfortable position on his Firebolt, he gave a thought to the voice, and it was not hard to tell that it was the Voice of the Shadow speaking.  
  
But how could it speak, there, in the middle of a Quidditch Match? It never said anything until Harry was very relaxed, and when he was tired and trying to get a little rest... But this time it was nothing of the likes of that, he was just playing a Quidditch Match...  
  
"What?" Harry whispered, trying to talk to the scary voice that almost made him fell off his broom.  
  
"Be warned... The Shadow of Darkness... It is acting more than ever! It radiates so much magical energy that Dumbledore can feel it perfectly..."  
  
"What now, you joined our side?" Harry asked the Shadow remembering that it was not supposed to take sides.  
  
"Harry Potter, this does not matter right now!"  
  
Harry caught a glimpse of the Snitch, but he was distracted from the match already. The happenings had to be too important for the Voice to come and talk to him in the middle of such an event.  
  
"So what is it?" Harry asked curiously.  
  
"Listen to me, Harry! Go... Ask for a timeout... Head to the Great Hall... IMMEDIATELY!"  
  
"What is happening there?" asked Harry, who was not at all agreeing with the idea if him leaving the Gryffindors alone. That would surely get the Slytherins a win, and he would never accept that.  
  
"JUST DO IT! YOU'LL UNDERSTAND!!!"  
  
Harry went straight to Madam Hooch thinking up of a story to get him a timeout, but none came to his mind. In almost no time, he was face to face with the referee.  
  
"What is it, Potter?" she asked.  
  
"Professor... I need... a timeout."  
  
"A timeout? Why?"  
  
"Something..." but he didn't know what he could tell her. "Something very important."  
  
"Potter, I hope the reason is good enough. Oh well," she took her whistle and gave a loud blow on it. "TIMEOUT!!!" she shouted, and both teams were heading towards her to ask what happened. Unfortunately none could talk to Harry, for he was flying with a high speed towards the gates of the Castle. Once he was in the Entrance Hall, he mounted his broom, flying to the Great Hall.  
  
He landed, taking a deep breath. He looked around, but it was nothing strange there at the first sight. Nothing was moving in the silence... He wondered if the Voice wasn't actually just a trick from a Slytherin, a spell that they weren't supposed to do...  
  
But there was one unusual thing there which he managed to spot -- a black large book lay opened in the middle of the Ravenclaw Table, a book Harry wished he didn't have to see again in his life.  
  
The Dark Book of Dark Arts.  
  
But what was it doing left in the middle of the Great Hall, just there for anyone to see it?  
  
For the good of other people who would eventually see it and look to see what it was, Harry had to take it, to bring it back to the Gryffindor Tower, to hide it in his trunk, or anywhere else where nobody would see it.  
  
He decided it would take too long to walk to it and mounted his Firebolt. But as he was getting close to the Dark Book, someone spoke.  
  
"Leave it there!"  
  
It was a cold girl's voice. Harry didn't recognize it, and turned to see who was talking.  
  
It was Hermione. But not a normal Hermione, her hair was messy and untidy, she was wearing an expression of disgust and hatred on her face, and her voice was nothing like her usual. Her eyes reminded Harry of Voldemort's when he was torturing his Death Eaters back in the graveyard, and he could swear they weren't her usual color, but a bit redder.  
  
"Hermione?"  
  
"Hermione it was, Harry Potter. And Hermione is, partly," she replied coldly. "Leave the book there."  
  
"Why should I?"  
  
"Because that's where it needs to stay for the students to read it. That's the place where the tryumph of the Dark Wizards will begin."  
  
"They will never tryumph! And not with the Shadow of Darkness!"  
  
"You know you can't stand its power, Harry Potter! Not you, not Dumbledore, not anyone! Either here, or anywhere else, sooner or later the entire school will read the Dark Book of Dark Arts! That would make a large army for us..."  
  
"Dumbledore won't allow anyone to do that! How can you think you will manage to -- show it to everyone? Dumbledore's the only wizard even Voldemort feared, and if Voldemort feared him, so should anyone! He will always know what you are doing."  
  
"Harry, this is so wrong of you."  
  
As they talked more and more, Harry soon realized he enjoyed a conversation with a normal Hermione so much better. But what was it -- was it just the shadow possessing Hermione? Or was she acting on her free will lead by a dark, corrupted mind?  
  
"I started with showing one student the Dark Book, luckily that nobody told her about the Shadow of Darkness... and luckily that she knew about the book and was eager to read it... After I showed her the book she went to the Quidditch Pitch anyway, but the Shadow managed to enter her mind."  
  
She already knew about it...  
  
It was clear who the corrputed Hermione showed the book to. The first Hogwarts student -- except Hermione and himself -- who had the Shadow of Darkness inside was Cho Chang.  
  
Harry's optimism suddenly left him entirely weak and alone. His lips slipped a mumble saying "Cho," and he knew that the corrupted Hermione hit him in his weak point.  
  
"Hermione..." Harry said, feeling so week that he couldn't remember a feeling like that in his entire life.  
  
"Get used to it, Harry... Because this will happen to you, too..."  
  
"The shadow... Why did it affect you more than me?"  
  
"You mean why I am evil and you are not yet? Well this is a though question. But now the Shadow leads me. Maybe as I was before I was too weak to stand it. I like how I feel now, it's so much better... I feel so powerful now! You are talking not to Hermione, but to both me and the Shadow. About you, you fought the Shadow that was placed on you with your entire powers, although even you couldn't resist it completely. There were some moments when my brother managed to take possession of your body completely, but they lasted a short time. This time, it is a permanent bind between me and the Shadow. Between me and Hermione Granger."  
  
"No, it can't be!" said Harry, feeling that he would soon be left all alone with no powers to resist the evil taking over his best friend, and soon over Hogwarts. If Hermione was suffering from a permanent corruption, the entire school could be -- without even Dumbledore noticing... the spell was something he never faced before, so he would not be aware of it...  
  
"It will be, Harry Potter! And you will never talk to the Hermione you got used to -- never! All you'll find is me... the Shadow of Darkness. I guess I should find a new name -- what about Hermydark?"  
  
As she finished her sentence, Harry could hear loud cheers from the Quidditch Pitch outside, he guessed it meant that the match was over. Soon, a whole bunch of students and teachers would be entering the castle, and they would become witnesses to the effects of the Shadow of Darkness.  
  
Hermione took her wand out of her robes and turned to face the door leading to the Entrance Hall.  
  
As the Front Gate opened, she casted a spell that knocked down a few Gryffindors from the third year, who were accidentally leading the group. Harry knew he had to do something, and he shouted with all his power, "IMPEDIMENTA!"  
  
Hermione stopped in her tracks, and, as the shocked crowd took a step sideways, a fierce Dumbledore hastily appeared staying exactly under the gate.  
  
The curse on Hermione wore off, and when she saw Dumbledore Harry could swear she had an urge to run away -- but she didn't... Something stopped her. Something about the Shadow of Darkness.  
  
"Dumbledore..." she said, giving him a threatening look and pointing her wand towards him.  
  
"Leave her body immediately," Dumbledore said to the corrputed Hermione.  
  
"Hermione and the Shadow of Darkness have become as one right now," the currpoted Hermione said again, threateningly. "There is no way to separe us even if both of us wanted."  
  
Harry was almost shocked about the thought of never talking to Hermione as he knew her again -- but Dumbledore, strangely, kept his calmness over the limits Harry could imagine. Or maybe he knew a way to drive the Shadow of Darkness out of Hermione?  
  
"You know it will be foolish to try to face me," Dumbledore threatened the corrupted Hermione. "I will take you down as easy as Voldemort took down wizards."  
  
"Remember that you are not talking to Hermione right now, but to a combination of Hermione and Gregor the Vanquisher, the creator of the Dark Book of Dark Arts, a book that hid the Shadow of Darkness perfectly, and that was intended to help the Evil Lords in their hard times. Remember that I possess the whole knowledge of the Ancient Wizards, I know them just like they used to be. And it was so lucky to be combined with a top student."  
  
"Gregor the Vanquisher had no more power than I do," Dumbledore said, and he waved his wand, causing a jet of purple light to fly to Hermione, who seemed to block it and send it back to Dumbledore, who avoided it quite easily.  
  
"Gregor the Vanquisher was the strongest Dark Wizard of his time," said the corrupted Hermione.  
  
She waved her left hand and shot an even greater jet of purple light to Dumbledore, who sent it back to the caster as well.  
  
"Do not mess with me, Gregor," said Dumbledore, and Harry felt that the small duel would finish quickly.  
  
"Then say something about this," the corrputed Hermione said, and pointing her wand to the crowd of students at the back of Dumbledore, she shot a large jet of fire to them.  
  
Dumbledore didn't seem to manage to stop it, and the spell caused an explosion in the center of the crowd, throwing several students several feet backwards.  
  
"This was enough, Gregor!" Dumbledore said, "Just say what you are really looking for."  
  
"I am looking for nothing."  
  
"What do you want then?"  
  
"I want the Evil to tryumph... and this is the only place where I can do something really useful."  
  
"The Shadow of Darkness will not affect the students studying at my school. Not for as long as I am still the headmaster here."  
  
"It already did, Dumbledore, already affected two -- soon three -- of the students that are studying here, and they will not be the last ones!"  
  
Dumbledore, instead of replying anything, just waved his wand again and summoned some heavy chains that binded Hermione to the ground so fast that she didn't even react. She fell on the floor as a result, paralyzed, staring at Dumbledore, who lowered his wand and pocketed it.  
  
"This won't be the end," Hermione said, "This won't be the end."  
  
"Nobody said it will. Now, I will have to ask everyone," Dumbledore continued calmly, turning to face the crowd of students, "to go to their Common Rooms... If anyone was hurt, he will be transported to the Hospital Wing immediately -- Mr. Potter, Mr. Ronald Weasley... will you, please, come to my office..."  
  
He pointed at Hermione's body, lifting her about ten inches above the ground, and as Dumbledore went down the corridors and up to the second floor, where the Headmaster's Office was, the flying paralyzed Hermione followed him. The effect remembered Harry of the Mobilicorpus spell.  
  
"By the way, Harry," Ron managed to say to him through sad thoughts about Hermione, "Malfoy caught the Snitch but we still won. We had three hundred points already and they had fourty -- Malfoy thought it'd be better to catch the Snitch until the Gryffindors would give them too many goals."  
  
The thought of winning a Quidditch match didn't bring any comfort to Harry anyway.  
  
As they were heading to the Stone Gargoyle leading to Dumbledore's office, Harry just hoped it was all nothing more than a dream, a nightmare... The whole thing was turning bad, worse than Harry could ever think. The Shadow of Darkness not only corrupted minds, it could take over persons completely... What if the Shadow would manage to take him, too? Gregor the Vasquisher said that the corrupted Hermione had his powers, and that it was lucky for him that the Shadow of Darkness was casted on the top student. But Harry knew somehow that if the Shadow would possess him, he could do things a lot worse than Hermione did. What if Dumbledore couldn't stop a corrupted Harry?  
  
If that happened, he together with Gregor the Vanquisher would rule the world... 


End file.
